A Random Sampling

I have now set up my Project 365 blog: http://antesandafter.blogspot.com/.

I enjoyed a trip to Santa Rosa, which is colder than Copan and helped prepare me for the States.  I also haven't traveled in a while and was able to enjoy  the crowded chicken buses again.  I actually really enjoy traveling around Central America, it's quite the cultural experience.  My favorite part is that at many of the crowded stops, people will climb onto the bus with food and/or drinks to sell.  I can get a bag of my beloved green mango with salt and salsa or a bag of coca with a straw.  It makes long days of travel much more bearable.  On the way to Santa Rosa, however, I experienced a new, but not surprising, phenomena.  At the start of the bus ride, a man stood up at the front of the bus with his Bible and preached to us.  He talked about how anyone can change their life, after all, he had.  He talked about the importance of faith.  He asked who on the bus believed and how everything would change if they would give their lives up to God.  I was glad my Spanish was as far along as it is so I could understood where he took it.


Being home hasn't proved to go according to plan, but it has been nice.  I've been sick with a nasty cold since I left Copan and a heavy snowstorm hit the east coast.  With their powers combined, some of my travel was canceled and I actually ended up with down time (which was really good, considering the cold.)


Unlike most of the snow we get in Williamsburg, this heavy fall was real snow.  Not ice.  Not slush-by-noon, but a solid 10 inches that stayed on for a few days.  It didn't roll well, so we didn't make snowmen, but we could make some snow balls, play with the dog, make snow angels, and enjoy walks in the snow.

It's been good to see family, be home, and have a mommy to help take care of me when sick (That hasn't happened in a while).  I've also had the chance to get a few useful things before going back to Copan for my last 6 months.  Which has been decided, once and for all, that I will be leaving Copan to move back to Williamsburg.  I'll have a summer of vacationing and finding work followed by a year of community college to get the credits I lack for licensure.  During that year, I will be boosting my undergrad GPA, studying for and taking the GREs, and applying to graduate schools.  I'm looking closely at a few schools, but more are always welcome.  Any suggestions?

Merry Christmas and a happy new year!  I only plan to keep up this blog as long as I'm in Honduras, so until part way through June.  Until then, I will be working on both my blogs and then switching over completely.  Here goes!

Feliz Navidad y prospero año nuevo!

The New Year is just Around the Corner

I've been finding myself online an absurd amount.  Instead of trying to curb my online time, I've just tried to make it more productive.  I look for memory and mind improvement websites (like http://www.khanacademy.org/ and http://www.knoword.org/) or writing exercises (http://oneword.com/ and http://www.onepageperday.com/) or simple do-it-youself fixes and recipes I can manage in Honduras.

I always think grandiose new year's resolutions are silly.  Thinking that the new year is some magical time to change our whole lives is unreasonable.  Most people embrace the joke that they won't even make it out of January with their resolution.  Failure is assumed at the start. 

Two and a half weeks ago I started my new year's resolution (since I'd figured it out already, I didn't see a reason to wait until the first.)  I'm going to spend the next 12-ish months in 6 week segments.  It takes the human mind 6 solid weeks to break and form a habit.  I am marking off on a calender each successful day, and Xing off each failed day for the first small 6 week goal.  Once 6 weeks are done, I shall move onto another small, manageable goal. (The first one is embarrassing, and I hope my dentist doesn't read this, but I'm finally getting into a rhythm of brushing my teeth twice a day, every day.  Next 6-weeks will be flossing.  And I have 10 weeks to figure out what comes next, but I'm starting up a list of small, daily changes I can work on.)

(This would have been the picture of the day)

This was going to be THE resolution, but then during a conversation about new year's resolutions I was introduced to Project 365.  I've really enjoyed learning a bit about photography during my time in Copan, and I think joining Project 365 for my other new year's resolution would be a lot of fun, insightful, and self-improving.  The project is to take one photo every single day for a year.  By default it improves photography skills, it helps you realize what things are most important to you, and it's a concise photo diary.  I'll be able to capture my 6 months in Central America and my first 6 months of my new, transitive life.  I also think this is the best year to do it because of the great change I'm about to go through.  I will be more aware of my surroundings at I leave Copan and when I return to the United States.

So, starting January 1st, I will be keeping a photo journal as well.
Enjoy the end of 2010!

Getting Better

After several busy weeks and abnormal schedules, I've finally been able to catch up on cleaning and laundry. As exciting as I know that sounds, it has made this weekend a breath of fresh air. As a part of my cleaning spree, I put up all of my Christmas things from last year and have either purchased, or figured out all of my Christmas gifts.


I've also been getting along better with the Land-family. Not that we ever didn't get along, but for a reason even I couldn't figure out I get beyond nervous around them and when I'm nervous, I cannot speak Spanish. I got my electricity bill, payed this month's rent, and have chatted with them on several occasions during the weekend. They invited me to dinner on Saturday night, but I had a birthday dinner for one of my coworkers, followed by a goodbye drink for a good friend who's moving back to Denmark. The landlady also invited me to Christmas even dinner, but I'll be in the States, but I think I can actually go to the New Year's event they're throwing! Today, I went down and talked to them for a while. I showed Jonathan, their 5 year old son, my new turtle (I'll get to her!) and we talked about Christmas, the improvement of my Spanish, and school. I'd say it's a big improvement! I've always been able to understand them, but my hesitance or difficulty in speaking made them uncomfortable and unsure about what I would understand. Which, in turn, made me even more nervous talking. Now, I think we'll both do better with communicating. Also, this week I should be getting new cabinets above my sink, which are full of termites and drop droppings all over the kitchen.

And...I have a pet turtle. She's a hatchling red-eyed slider, which aren't legal to sell in the States when they're smaller than 4 inches because of salmonella risk. Usually kids get it, because they aren't good at basic sanitation measures. I keep a bottle of purell next to the tank to help keep things from going poorly. She's currently still nameless, but considering one of my friends took 3 weeks to name her son, I figure my turtle can wait a little while. It's an important decision!

She's living in a small, shallow pool that's perfect for her current size, but as a water turtle, I'd like to give her something with more room to stretch her legs. Cathy, my boss, has a 10 gallon fish tank that she doesn't use anymore because every time the power goes out, one of her fish would die. She said I can borrow it. I haven't yet figured out what I will use to line the bottom--something heavy so I can build a land area, and something round and hard so it's easy to clean. I've started building a floating island for basking. It's made of Popsicle like sticks, which float on their own, but sink when something's on them, so I've fastened pumice stones to the corners (I got those in Belize). I don't have the tank yet, but I'd like to be ready when it gets here. 

Today I learned that, as well as her food pellets, she'll eat insects I drop in her tank.  When I first got her, I dropped an ant in to see if she'd hunt, but I guess she was still too uncomfortable to hunt.  I bought her a lamp for basking, and in the last few days she has started nap-basking during the day, which is good, healthy, and a sign of comfort.  She also jumped on the three small beetles I put in the tank after I found them in my beans.  I'll be careful because I read that hatchlings that eat shrimp sometimes choke on the shells.

I'm still welcoming name ideas.