kill the fattened calf...

Okay, so I don't have pictures yet. But I will, don't you worry. I just wanted to share a recent story. Our boss, Rory, is leaving Honduras. He is going to be working for CAUSE in Canada. So he threw a going away party in the village. But this was no ordinary going away party. I want to tell you about it. There must have been over 200 people there! And at these parties, everyone has to eat. So this is what we made. 75 POUNDS of rice! That's right...75 pounds of rice and beans! Also, we made like 200 of these things that are like tamales, if you don't know what that is, I'm not sure how to explain it to you, besides to say this. They are like a gooey mush that you pour into a banana leaf. You wrap up the leaf, tie it up with string, put it in a huge pot to boil, and then it turns out to be this yummy corn-based food, that looks a little like poo but tastes awesome! We also made three huge TUBS of coleslaw, and this is the best part. You know in the Bible, the story about the prodigal son who comes home and then the father is like "let's kill the fattened calf and have a party"?? That's what we did! The day before the party, they went and bought a cow. Yes, they bought a cow. They had it tied up near the beach. At about 2pm, they killed the cow. I wasn't there, thank the Lord, but they tell me that they broke it's back, hit it on the head with an axe, and then stabbed it through the heart. Then I arrived just in time to see them skinning the poor thing...and let me tell you, I have never seen anything quite like it. The poor animal's muscles were still moving, and they were like ripping it's skin off. Then a lot more gross stuff happened, and I left, because I felt like puking! Then later that night, I went to the kitchen where they were going to cook it, and it looked exactly like a butcher's shop, you know with the huge sides of beef hanging up?! Only there's no such thing as refrigeration! Early the next morning they were at it, cutting it up, seasoning it, and cooking it over fire in these HUGE VATS...three huge vats of cow. Wow. It was definitely an experience I will NEVER forget. I am going to post pictures. But I don't have my camera right now. Tomorrow. Anyway, the party itself was unforgettable. Lots of food, music, Punta dancing (which incidentally, I'm not a big fan of...I like watching, but I can't for the life of me make my body do the same as them! My bum just doesn't wiggle like theirs do!), and then when there was almost no one left except me and my friends, they put on some dance music! It was a very fun night. Pictures to follow!

Pictures...and Stories

This is me on the beach, and the beach in Ciriboya at sunset. It is the most gorgeous thing I have ever seen. No one is ever on the beach. Rarely anyway, except for the very poor people who do not have bathrooms in their houses, and who use the beach to have baths (then go home and splash some non-salt water over them to get rid of the salt water). People think we´re strange because we like swimming in the ocean! But we don´t care. We don´t go as much as we should, but we do go on a regular basis. It is like the ultimate tourist spot, because it is not touristy! You can look out over the ocean, see the sunset, look back and see the mountains and palm trees and coconut trees, and you can´t tell that there is anyone living there, except for a couple of little canoe-like boats on the beach, which people use to go out fishing. We eat a LOT of fish here. It is like, the staple meat. No one eats much meat other than fish. Fish, and rice, and bananas (but mashed up bananas that they put in soup) and fried plantains, and coconut everything. Those are the staples. I love the food here. I love the beach. My hair is in braids! I have my very own hairdresser, her name is Jessica, and she is Rosy´s 14 year old sister. She will do my hair in braids whenever I want. Usually they last about three days...next time I´m going to see if they´ll last longer!

Pictures...and Stories

Catherine (my roommate) had a birthday on October 28. So me and my friend Rosy threw her a party! We drove all the way out to this village to buy all the food, went back to Rosy´s house to cook all the food (it took all afternoon!) and then we suprised her by coming to the CAUSE office (one of the only places in town that has electricity because we have a generator) and having a party, complete with 20 people, cool music blasting through this beaten up old stereo in the office, and drums! Garifuna people are famous for their drums, and for their dancing. It was tons of fun. I didn´t get many pictures, but this is a not very good picture of me and Rosy, sitting around the table that night. I want you to know her like I know her, she is such a unique person! I will try and post more pictures soon.

Pictures...and Stories.

Here is the picture of my finger. And here is the story. We went to the mountain, to chop things down. Like firewood. And sugar cane. I carried a huge load of firewood back home, for one and a half hours. It was the hardest thing I´ve ever done, and the woman that we went with does this EVERY SINGLE MORNING!! It gave a whole new meaning to the idea of physical labour. I wish I could post a photo of what I looked like, but I don´t have one on my camera. Then, in the afternoon, I really wanted to cut the sugar cane that she gave us that morning, you have to cut the skin off so that you can eat it. And I was sitting there, trying to peel it, and thinking to myself, ¨I´m going to cut myself, I know it¨...and then, wouldn´t you know it, about 10 seconds later, I cut myself! I wanted to take a picture of it, but my camera was out of batteries. So this is a picture of my cut, 6 DAYS after I cut myself. I don´t know, but I think I should have gotten stitches!! What do you think? The good news is that now, it is completely healed, I just have a scar.

Internet Anyone?!

• So we don’t have the internet anymore. And the phones weren’t working today either. So really, we are stuck with no method of communication, except to go to the city (which is where I’m sending this from). This is the MOST frustrating part of the entire experience so far, the lack of communication. AAHH!! It makes me cry some days, when all I want is to get an email from someone who loves me, and I can’t. Hopefully the internet comes back on soon, but no one really knows when/if that will happen.
  
  Cool Stuff I’ve done so far:
  ...Learned how to drive a scooter! This was very fun.
  ...Every night we hang out with this girl named Rosy and her family. They are awesome. I love hanging out at their house
  ...Swimming in the ocean just as the sun is setting. You can’t look at a scene like that and not believe in God. It is breathtaking. Pictures don’t do it justice.
  ...Driven a huge diesel truck over the bumpy dirt roads to a FIESTA, where I had to exhibit to the world that I have absolutely NO dancing skills!
  ...Learned how to make some traditional Garifuna foods, like coconut sweet bread.
  ...Went to the mountain with a 52 year old woman who chopped up wood like she was 20. Then carried the wood home on my back for ONE AND A HALF HOURS. She does this every day. I almost died.
  
• Stuff I’m frustrated with so far:
  ...Bugs! There are always bugs in the house. There are always little sand flies biting me, and then I am itchy and grumpy!
  ...My job. There is no internet, which I need to research what I’m supposed to be doing for my job. So pretty much I just try and keep myself busy, but waste a lot of time
  ...LACK OF COMMUNICATION. I think I already mentioned that!
  ...LACK OF SPANISH SKILLS. I don’t feel like I’m getting any better at Spanish, because most of the people here speak to each other (even around me) in Garifuna
  
  Anyway, I guess that’s the update for now! Keep writing me emails…when I do get them, I really appreciate them. A lot.

anyone stuck?

We rented a Land Rover in La Ceiba, because our van was broken so it stayed in La Ceiba to get fixed. We were pretty excited, after all, it is a nice Land Rover, and it had air conditioning. It was a great ride back to Ciriboya on Friday night!
So then on Saturday night, Rory decided to take us for a little tour of the beach, in the Land Rover! It was so cool, riding a few feet away from the waves that threatened to lap at the wheels of the car…seeing little crabs scurrying here and there, looking up at the moon overhead, and feeling the fresh salty air on my face, as I hung my head out the window, drinking in the smell. And then…
It happened! We were crossing over a small fresh water creek that runs parallel to the ocean, about twenty feet up from the ocean itself. And as we passed through, in the Land Rover, we stopped. I thought it was for emphasis, and then I realized…we were stuck! The creek was up to our knees at the deepest part, and as I opened the door to the Land Rover to hop out, the water was nearly up to the door! So we tried to drive it out. No luck. We tried to push and drive it out. No luck. (except that now we were sopping wet, and sandy as well as stuck!). So Rory decides to go and get the truck, to pull it out. We wait there, sopping wet and sandy. He comes back. We attach the rope and he tries to pull. No luck. He tries to pull while we push. No luck! We try to put wood under it. No luck, We try to put bricks under it. No luck! Everything we did, did not work! We were all kind of in good spirits, but at the same time, wondering what on earth we would do if we could not manage to get a $40,000USD car unstuck from a creek on the beach in the middle of nowhere in Honduras!
The boys went to get MORE wood, and a car jack. The girls stayed to guard the car! Actually, we ended up going swimming in the ocean while we were waiting, because we had been sopping wet for a few hours, and we were COLD (yes, it is the first time I’ve been cold since I’ve been here!). The ocean water was so warm that it actually felt like having a bath! We were a little nervous too, as we waited in the moonlight, because we have heard stories of drug runners on the beach and in the water at night (and by this time it was definitely the middle of the night!)
Finally, the boys come back with more wood. We place it under all the wheels, which took like an hour and a half, because all the sand kept getting in the way. Finally, we say, okay, this time it will work. We try again. NO LUCK. Finally, with all strength and good attitudes failing, we give it one more try. And OUT POPS THE LAND ROVER!! Yay…hallelujah! So, after 6 HOURS of trying, we now know how to get a Land Rover out of a creek by the ocean. Another skill to add to my resume! And another adventure to add to the list I am compiling!

electricity!!

So, yesterday we came to one of the bigger cities on the coast, called La Ceiba. We came because our bosses had some stuff to do, and also because we wanted to buy some things. So here we are. We stayed in a hotel last night that had ELECTRICITY!! Wow. And even a tv (which we didn´t watch!). We had a shower and there was hot water! (okay, it´s not really hot water, what they do is attach this thing to the shower head that is commonly known as a ´widow-maker´ because it heats the water as it comes through the spout, but it is run on electricity, so sometimes it shorts out and gives the person standing in the water a shock!!)
We´re about to go back to the land of stray chickens, pigs, dogs, kitties, and horses. Did I tell you that the other day I walked out of the house to wash the dishes, and there were three horses eating grass in my yard! It is truly the strangest place I´ve ever been.
Also, I went to this woman´s house, and she showed me how she makes bread. Well, buns actually. And she doesn´t have a stove, so what she did was to use this thing that looked like a sawed-off oil drum. She puts this on the ground, and then on top of it, she puts this piece of tin, like what they use for their roofs. She proceeds to light a fire on TOP of the piece of tin, and when it is hot, she PICKS UP THE FIRE with her hands, like picks up the piece of tin, moves it, puts the little buns inside, puts the fire back on top, and waits for the buns to cook! And since the buns cook at different rates, she did this like FIVE TIMES!! The women in Ciriboya are tough. I could learn a lot!
Anyway, no pictures yet, but I promise some soon. I went swimming in the ocean the other morning, and it was GLORIOUS!! God´s creation is pretty darn amazing.

Primitive?!

So here I am, finishing day three here in Ciriboya. It has been an incredible journey so far, but I will say for sure that I miss everyone so much that I think I’m going insane sometimes! And the communication is not as good as I thought it would be. Right now I am waiting to use the internet, because someone is on it, so I figured I’d just write on the computer.
It is so primitive here! We have a toilet and a shower (cold water only) but no electricity. Like there is no electricity in the entire community. Right now the generator is running, it is really loud, but it is the only mode of keeping communication going. The generator supplies electricity to our office, but our house has no light at all! It is pretty cool though, that in the middle of nowhere, we have access to the internet…and it only costs $270 US dollars per month to run! Insane, hey?!
The telephone in the village is a communal telephone, and if someone calls, then they run down the road looking for the person that the call is for, then the person runs back up to the phone to talk! Everything takes forever because there are no luxuries.
The beach is amazing. I haven’t been swimming yet, but I will soon go. It is incredible. As soon as I take pictures, I’ll post them for sure. We sleep under mosquito nets to protect us (from mosquitos, and anything else that might want to run overtop of us at night…so far I’ve seen a snake, many geckos, spiders, ants, and I think that’s all so far…thank goodness the snake was not inside!)
The people here are awesome, although I’m having a hard time understanding them sometimes. And half the time they are speaking in Spanish, and the other half of the time, they are speaking in Garifuna…which has been a challenge! I already know one word in Garifuna…idabinay (or something like that) it means “how are you”
Anyway, keep in touch! I’ll write again soon.

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