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Published: August 10th 2006
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So I woke up at 8, had a shower and such and was all ready for 8:30, as that was when we were told we'd be picked up. We were all ready and waiting... and waiting... we finally called the school to ask when Mauricio was coming. He said he was help up with some things but would be by shortly. We later realised, he wasn't the 2 hours late that we thought. The clocks here changed on the weekend but no one told us. We knew that was coming up but the director thought it might be in September... Anyways, I am now 2 hours behind most of you (Yes J'Arns, this is a special shout out to you).
Anyways, Mauricio picked us up and we went to the school so that Jenna could have a tour, meet Melissa and the new director (I think his name is Cesar), and so that we could all sign our contracts. Afterwards, we went to the bank for Jenna to open an account then got a ride to a cute bakery called "La Princesa" (The Princess). We were looking for a cake for my birthday. We didn't see one we liked but
bought some pastries instead. Jill got a donut, and Jenna and I got these crumbly cookie-type things with caramel between the layers (3 layers) and then more caramel on top. SO GOOD!
We then decided real lunch would be a good thing, so head towards the Cathedral to see if we could find something. We ended up sitting in la Parque Centrale for a few minutes on a bench to just admire the park and cathedral. Am I ever glad that we did! A tour guide for the area came over and started talking to us. Jenna speaks almost fluent Spanish (WHICH IS AWESOME!) so he was telling her that there was a soccer game at the stadium today at 3pm between Honduras and Nicaragua. He explained that the national teams are doing preliminary games to see who qualifies for some big tournament in Canada. We weren't sure what tournament but were exciting about maybe being able to see an international "futbol" game. Jenna asked if it was safe for us to go and how to get there. The tour guide then pointed out a restaurant for us to eat lunch which is actually RIGHT next to the cathedral.
It was a great lunch. Jenna suggested trying the Guanabana Juice. I didn't know what it would taste like as I have never seen guanabana fruit but trusted her choice and had that with my ham and cheese sandwich. The juice was awesome. What a cool fruit. I wonder if I could find it anywhere in Canada.
After lunch we found another bakery and Jenna and Jills bought me a really nice chocolate cake for us to all share with the staff tomorrow for my birthday. There are 4 new staff joining us tomorrow. I'm very excited.
We then caught a taxi home to drop stuff off, had him wait while we got ready, then had him drive us to the stadium for the soccer game. The cab cost us each 15 lempira and then the tickets to get into the game were 10 lempira. So to taxi it to and from the game and including our ticket, it cost us about $2US. SO GREAT! Cheap entertainment at it's finest.
The game was SO fun. I took some pictures, so I'll post those. Entering the stadium was the funniest. We were BY FAR in the minority.
First of all, there weren't a whole lot of females. Secondly, we're "gringas" (slang term for white girls). We made our way through lots of people (the game had already started) to go around and sit on the other side of the field. It was WAY bigger than I thought it would be and TONS of people there... totally exciting. The crowd was great cheering, and yelling. They even have a cheer to call the ref a "culero" (closest english translation is "ass-fucker") when they don't like his calls. CRAZY! There was a band with drums and xylophones up in the stands as well. Definately exciting.
The funniest part of it all was after half time, when the Nicaragua team was walking back to their bench. There was one player who was staring at us and he had an interesting look to him so I stared back. Then he raised one of his eyebrows. I kinda reacted to it with my body and realised Jenna did the same thing. We both just started laughing hysterically and were saying "did you see that?" and "I can't believe you were staring too!" through giggles. It was cute. We started calling him
"our guy". Our guy wasn't the starting goalie but had to warm up at one point when they thought there was an injury.
The other funny thing was the firemen standing off to the side. They had a stretcher in case of injury but one of the men was wearing a fire helmet. It was the most random thing. Jenna and I kept joking that it was just in case a fire broke out in the field. His head would then be well protected (see pic of them carrying someone off the field).
I also found my Honduran boyfriend. He was number 15 for Honduras. He had hair down to about his earlobes that was cute and curly and bounced when he ran. We decided he'd do alright for my Honduran boyfriend. We joked about how we could be their groupies and follow the team around on our weekends... lol.
The only thing that sucked is that we don't know if we won or not. Because we arrived late, we had no idea of the score. We saw Nicaragua score twice and Honduras score once. At the end of the game there was cheering but we couldn't tell if it was polite "well done" cheering or "we won" cheering. We didn't think to ask either until after. Oh well. Friday is a game between Nicaragua and Costa Rica, and then Sunday is Honduras vs. Costa Rica. We want to go back Sunday for sure and maybe Friday too if there's nothing else to do.
After the game we got a taxi to la supermarcado so that Jenna could buy a pillow and so that we could all buy a little bit of food to hold us until our 4th member joins the house and we can all shop together (which should be tomorrow!!!) We came home, I let Jenna use my computer to check her e-mails and such, while Jill and I made dinner, and then we all sat down to dinner. Afterwards, Jill taught us a fun card game called "May I?", which we then played for just over an hour. Now here I am.
Such a wonderful day... mostly because of the soccer game. It just seemed nice too. Maybe it's having another person around. I really enjoy the new conversation. Jenna has done a lot of teaching through a program in the States called "Head Start" where she's worked with a lot of under-privledged children living in housing projects. Her stories are great ones and her and I have been sharing teaching methods and stories about how cute the little ones can be (For two years has been working with 4 year olds).
Well, tomorrow is another day... es me cumpleaneous! (It's my birthday!) I can't wait to meet even more new staff. Very excited.
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Pallesch
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I am so jealous....would have loved to be there for that game! As for the fruit..I think you can get it in Scarborough. I love the pictures you are including with your blog...it feels like we are all there with you! HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARAH!!!!!!!! I know this was Wednesday's blog but you will get this message on your BIG B-DAY!!!!!!!! Love ya!