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Published: August 11th 2006
New Bed Spread!
This is my new bed spread that is so colourful. I LOVE it!Went to bed last night after midnight, so it was officially “me cumpleaneous”. I opened my birthday cards from my parents… very sweet… made me cry a little. Went to bed.
Woke up this morning to my alarm clock giving that weird sound it makes when the power goes out. Turns out something happened this morning with our power. We think it might be the fact that Jill and Jenna showered at the same time and the electricity that heats the water was too much. My alarm clock powered back on so I reset it and went back to bed.
When I woke up, Jenna and Jill had gone out. There was a note saying that they had gone to the school to let them know that some of our power was out (I only found this note after they got back). We were told the hydro would be fixed by the end of today but we’re discovered that “today” in Honduras actually means “3 days from now”.
When Jill and Jenna got back to the house, I realised they had made me cute little “Feliz Cumpleaneous” and “Happy Birthday” signs on my bedroom door. So cute. We
Birthday Dinner View (with flash)
This is the view of the clock tower of the cathedral, from the courtyard of the restaurant where we ate dinner. also realised that the power was a weird thing. Downstairs the lights were working but not our electrical outlets. Upstairs our outlets were working but not our lights. SO weird. We ended up moving our cheese and my birthday cake to the fridge in the house next door so that they didn’t go bad. Everything else in the fridge was fine to leave in there (mostly water).
We then left the house to run some errands… what a productive time. Jenna mailed some letters home, and I bought a bag that I can use to carry my stuff to school. I had been looking for over-the-shoulder (one long strap) ones that would be big enough to fit a clipboard. I had found one days earlier with Jill but wanted to shop around a bit to make sure I didn’t see anything else first. I ended up going back to that same store to buy that first bag. I liked it a lot. I also bought a beautiful blanket that has very bright colours and is not too thin but not too heavy. I’ve been waking up many mornings feeling cold, so I think this blanket will be perfect. Plus
Birthday Dinner View (without flash)
Same picture with no flash this time... tower and cathedral are beautifully lit up at night. it’s SO beautiful and only cost me about $35. I’ll post a picture.
We then went to a store that we knew sold Honduras Soccer Jerseys so we each bought one of those. We’ll be SO ready for the game on Sunday. OH YA! Jenna bought a newspaper and we found out that we did win the last game against Nicaragua (4-3). Yay! Anyways, the shirts were funny. I was asking for number 15, as that is my new Honduras boyfriend. The guy working in the store asked what his name is. When we said we didn’t know, he asked why it was important then that I had #15. We all giggled, I turned bright red, and then we explained that we had seen him and liked what we saw… haha. They ended up only having 7, 10, and 20. I of course got the #10. We felt it was important that I do so
We then walked up to the bank so that Jenna could pick up her debit card, followed by us having lunch at Wendy’s. I was slightly scared but avoided the taco salad, don’t worry! After we walked up to the Texaco station
Birthday Break-In
Breaking into our own house! Lovely. This is our security guard, Nadia laughing on the left and Jill trying to help. so that I could get money out with my bank card. I found it kind of weird that you can’t get money out from the bank using your bank card. You need your bank book or you go elsewhere with your card. WEIRD! We also found a red thong in the middle of the street that Jenna was quite amused by. She insisted that I write about it in my blog… too cute.
We then walked to the school so that I could drop off my copies of my diplomas and my police check for my file, then back up to the house to get ready for the new teachers arriving.
NEW TEACHERS HAVE ARRIVED! There were 3 who came in today. There were supposed to be 4, so we thought someone else would be moving into our house today but that didn’t happen. I suppose they’ll come tomorrow. All of the new staff who arrived today, will be living in the green house with Chris (who will arrive on Monday). The new staff are great. There’s Jeff, whom Jill and I already met in Mississauga the night we all got together (he’s from North York, Toronto). Then
Birthday Break-In Continued!
Now Jill and Jenna have both got their arms through our window, each holding open a bolt while our security guard tries the keys. We were all hysterical at this point! there’s Nadia. She’s from Nova Scotia but taught in Tegucigalpa last year, taught in El Salvador for a year, and has done other travelling around Central America. There’s Kari, who is from Colorado. She has her Masters in education and has taught in Costa Rica as well as Chile. So now we’re at 6. 3 speak Spanish really well and 3 of us do not. I’m just excited to learn some. Very exciting. They were all joking about how my Spanish would be better than theirs by the end because I have the accent and pronunciation for some reason. I told them that it may be from my experience with languages in my vocal program, and the fact that I had to take an international phonetic alphabet class in first year.
We all hung out, chatting for awhile then got ready to go out for dinner. We wanted to try that “Villa Real” restaurant that Jenna, Jill, and I tried to get to earlier this week but it was closed again. We ended up back at the place that we ate lunch yesterday, but were inside this time, as it was raining. It was great food. I had tacos which were ground chicken, rolled in a soft tortilla shell but then fried until they were crispy. They were SO good. There was also a really nice view from the outdoor patio of the clock tower of the cathedral, all lit up with lights. We all took pictures. Jenna ended up paying for my dinner. It was very nice of her. On the way out, I told the owner (who was so nice to us yesterday, and who studied in Chicago for awhile to learn English) that the food was ust so good that we had to come back. Jill then asked him how he liked the soccer game yesterday (he had told us he was going as well) and he said it was great. He then asked if we’d be going on Sunday to the game against Costa Rica. When we told him that we were planning on it, he told us all to come to the restaurant first and then we’d all go together. SO FUN! I can’t wait. What a nice man. I have a feeling we’ll be spending more time at his restaurant.
We then decided to head back to “Villa Real”, which turns into a karaoke bar and “discoteque” later at night. Kari wanted to call home to say she had arrived safely, I wanted to call home as well, and Jeff wanted to head home, so the 3 of us walked back towards the house and told the others we’d meet them there. The internet café is about a 10 minute walk from our house, so Jeff walked home and Kari and I went into make calls. I ended up talking to my mom for 16 minutes (which cost me 32 lempira… about $1.60US). It was great to hear her voice. Kari couldn’t get a hold of anyone at her home so we walked back to meet our friends at the bar. It’s such a beautiful restaurant/bar. There’s a garden/courtyard in the middle, and beautiful tables everywhere. It was definitely classy. According to our guide books it’s one of the best places in town for atmosphere and class.
We had a few drinks at the bar, had some laughs, shared stories, then decided to walk over to the “karaoke” section of the bar. There was no karaoke but there was definitely some cheesy 80s music. We had another drink (which Kari this time bought for me), played a few games (like ‘guess that guy’s age then ask him and see who was the closest’; which I won at) and then head home.
Once home, we realised that the front door had been fixed today on our house and it now had a new lock, which we forgot the keys to. We decided to go around the back and try our back door. WHAT A PAIN! The locks are SO tricky to get, even with the keys. For about 10 minutes we played around with them. I must have tried every one of my 10 keys about 50 times. I suppose it didn’t help that it was dark and we were slightly tipsy. Our security guard must have thought we were the biggest losers. He then helped us, trying the lock with the keys, while Jenna and Jill had their hands through the rip in our screen, also trying to open it. It was quite amusing. We took pictures of this as well.
When we finally got in, we had some birthday cake, all lit up with candles that Jenna and Jill had bought earlier this morning, without me knowing. I then brought my laptop downstairs, Jenna brought down her latin dance CDs and her and I danced up a storm in our living room. Her and I taught Jill and Nadia how to dance the “Bachatta” (Kari went to bed) and then Jenna and I danced some salsa, merengue, and punta. I don’t know punta but it’s the local Honduras dance and she taught me how to do it. It’s pretty much just moving your hips REALLY fast in circles. It’s fun.
We then climbed the stairs into our dark rooms (using my flashlight) since our lights upstairs still do not work.
Today was a fun day. Although it sort of felt like any other day, I will probably never have another birthday quite like it.
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Rohini
non-member comment
Happy Belated Birth-mas !
Sarah, I really enjoyed reading your blog entry. I felt like I was living your day right along side of you. I'm so glad your birthday turned out festive and interesting. Thanks for posting all the pictures- your blanket really is lovely. Craving taco's now... Talk to you soon xx