Cosas Buenas

A lot has happened this week, but I'll try to keep this as brief as possible. Some of the highlights in no particular order are:

- Learning how to wash my clothes in a pila.
- Finding a cafe in town with one of the most incredible views I have ever seen.
- Playing soccer with other trainees and locals.
- Getting to know more about my host family.
- Going to “cultural day” at our training center on Saturday.

- Sunday, I learned how to wash my clothes with a pila. A pila (prounounced pee-la) is sort of a large outdoor sink to hold water. Hondurans use pilas to keep their water, since they do not have the same type of pipe system that we have. Depending on where I live, a pila could be my only source of water. Most pilas come with a sort of counter that has a washboard attached to it. To wash your clothes, you just get them wet, rub them with soap, and then run them over the washboard as many times as it takes to get them clean. My nine-year-old neighbor, Stefanie (spelled different in Spanish, but I'm not even going to try) showed me how to do it. By the end, she had taken over and washed the rest of my clothes. I felt a little awkward about this, but she seemed to be having a blast. It's strange to have a kid teaching you to do things that are so basic. After, Steph wanted to help me clean my room, but we ended up just having a dance party instead, which was a lot more fun.
- Sunday, some of the other trainees and I went to a cafe called El Pueblo. It has beautiful views of the mountains surrounding Santa Lucia and a great view of Tegucigalpa, and when you're sitting outside of the cafe, you feel like you're at the top of the world. I've posted some pics of the view on Flickr. It is a very surreal feeling to just stop in a place like that for coffee whenever you would like, and it is just one more thing that I'm already growing to love about Honduras and Santa Lucia.
- Today, I played soccer with some of the other trainees and locals. This was my first game ever, so I never actually kicked the ball, though I did block one with my ribs, so I guess that counts as something. The locals who played with us were great, and put almost everyone to shame.
- I've also been able to spend more time with my host family, especially my host mom, Carmen. She's incredibly patient with me, and answers all my questions. We walk to the training center together every morning (she works there) so she has to field about 30 questions before 7:30 am everyday, and answers each one. The woman is a saint. My two host brothers are also really nice. Tonight, my 12 year-old host brother Carlos looked over my Spanish homework for me. He said it looked good, so I'll keep my fingers crossed. I found out yesterday that his favorite class is drawing/art, and that he really likes his new school (the new school year just started on Monday, and Carlos started his first cycle of colegio – basically he started middle school.)
- The other highlight of the past week has been the cultural day that we had on Saturday at the training center. Representatives from many of Honduras' indigenous groups came and gave presentations about their cultures. I never realized how many different cultural groups there were in Honduras. There were 7 represented during the day, and I am not sure if there are more. Hondurans have begun to realize how important these groups are, and have started implementing strategies to support these different communities and preserve their heritage and languages. We were able to dance with the Garifuna (Afro-Caribe group from the north coast of Honduras) and try food from different groups, like the Islenos and Lenca. Our host families were also invited, so it was a great day to get to know other Hondurans and trainees.
So much more has happened over the past week (technical training and language classes have begun, we have started to receive our vaccinations (fun!) and we have also been learning “life skills” like how to make sure you have clean drinking water, etc.) that it is difficult to put it all here at once. I hope this gives you a taste of life here – its been amazing so far.