yumminess

Yep... made those from scratch! Sooo delicious! I have become quite the baker here...i attribute it to boredom mostly.

Electric Water

So seeing as it is freezing here I am extra thankful that I have access to hot water..... via the electric shower....well it is more of a love hate relationship. I love that I can wake up in the morning and hop in the shower and soak in the warmness.. however I hate the constant threat of that morning being the end of life as I know it due to being eletrocuted. I actually don't think I am in any real eminent danger of electrocution, but ya never know... the electrical current isn't exactly the most regular thing here (for this we use regulators). But I don't think I should complain because I know many volunteers here who don't have hot water and have to bucket bath with boiled water. I'll take my electroducha over that any day!

When the rain falls

So it all started a coupld weeks ago when the tropical depression hit honduras. We had about 1 week of straight rain. It was miserable, everything soaking wet, mold starting to grow and clothes that wouldn't dry! The Peace Corps began sending us advisory messages about using caution when traveling due to flooding and land slides. This continued for the week. It is very sad because due to the intense rain we have had many smaller aldeas have been destroyed by land slides...in fact one PC volunteer was telling me about how an aldea of her town fell into the river... the entire aldea gone... all those homes and people's entire lives gone! Other places have turned into refugees camps, housing those who have lost everything they owned from the flooding.

These rainstorms have helped usher in the cold... due to the fact that I am in the mountains it has been quite chilly.. actually freezing. It all started with the rain and now i hear it is going to continue like this until December! Most morning it is hard to get out of bed and I spend my evenings bundled in sweaters and blankets. Thank GOD I brought back my scarf and mittens! I need some more swaet pants.. well actually I don't have a single pair-- only yoga pants and cotton PJs(not so warm) I also wish I have some close-toed shoes. I have tennis shoes but they are light and the mud here is crazy! so I resort to wearing my chacos or my wellies. I am going to have to invest in some better foot wear. I never would have imagined my life in Honduras like this.

PS- during this time most Hondurans go around dressed as if they are going on a trip to the frozen tundra... heavy winter coat, gloves, hat, scarf, sweater... and this is indoors seeing as we do not have heating.

More links

This link is to just some random pictures from having people in town, bdays, and going out.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2271714&l=c95fc&id=12301925

There is the link to Noche de Fumadores fotos... it was a celebration during the feria celebrating the Tobacco industry here in Santa Rosa. Note: Mother-I do not smoke... but I felt for the event the need to partake in the cigar smoking... i know very bad... but when in rome.... do as the romans do!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2270652&l=7c6b3&id=12301925

Training pics... oh the memories of FBT
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2253431&l=b6ce9&id=12301925

Host Family pic from Yarumela
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2253409&l=e9fdd&id=12301925

Ok I think that is it for now.. I will keep you updated as far as my facebook photo postings go

Posting Pictures

So I have been posting a lot of pictures of various things on Facebook. Here is a link to one of the albums.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2271714&l=c95fc&id=12301925

Just some pictures of the feria and things that have been happening in the park!

My Bday

So I never wrote to y'all about my bday. Thanks to my wonderful friends, my bday was excellent. We had our project workshop/reconnect on that day so I actually got to be will all of my friends. I was really worried that I was going to be alone and that it was going to be sad. But actually I was with the entire Health team and all my fav's minus my vecino Fernando! I made a big deal that my bday was on reconnect and I know everyone was sick of hearing when my bday was by the end of it....but I got to thinking why that was. And I think that it is mainly because I knew that I was going to be sad on that day because I wouldn't be with the people from home and my family. I was sad not to see gma, get hugs from mom, dad, ang and bob. Sad not to get spoiled by Olivia and see her family (although we did celebrate when I was at home....exactly 1 month prior to my bday) But all in all, I had an excellent birthday surrounded by all the new friends I have made in this wonderful journey so far.

I think I am very blessed with having such great friends who go through the trouble to make me cards and cupcakes. Who have stressful days running around to every ATM in the greater San Pedro Sula area because the stinkin Gallo mas Gallo doesn't take credit card....just so they can buy a toaster oven to make me a dozen chocolate cupcakes (Thanks Katie!) with gummy bears on top (Thanks Linda!)

More pics

Brr it is cold here..... been raining for 5 days now

Pretty roses I bought at the market

and finally the fridge!

Yummy Apple pie I made in my giant toaster oven!

The largest toaster oven I could find... goal is to fit a bird into this bad boy.

The mushroom that was growing out of my wall....I thought it was a plastic bag... but no fungi

Ode to Tigo internet

Oh Tigo internet How I love thee
So much that I stay up until a quarter to 3 ... AM

Ok, so that is a slight exaggeration... it was more like 2am. I am afraid that I am addicted to my new internet. It came the other day and it is soooo fast. So now I am connected all the day long. I love it cuz I get to talk to my family, hear my dog bark while we are confusing the hell out of him and find all sorts of information about what is happening in the world. I fear I am going to have to let it go little by little.... but for now I am going to live it up while it is the weekend and put everything else aside to surf the web at speeds... as the logo on the box says " Faster than you want". I think that is a funny slogan... it is so fast you don't even want it!

Here I leave you off... to spend the rest of my saturday night playing on the computer

Katie and Kristina walk to Teguc

A few weeks ago, Katie and I were supposed to help train the new group of Muni D volunteers in HIV so that when they go to their sites, they are able to give an HIV charla if called upon to do so.
Katie and I had a plan to meet up in SPS and travel the rest of the way to Teguc together. I got on the morning bus, got into to SPS, saved Katie a seat and we were soon on our way; Only 5 more hours until we arrived in Teguc. Everything was going fine… we even had a surprise visit by our favorite Bus vender—the tattooed man who used to be in a gang but has now found his faith in God, changed his ways and now deserves money from innocent travelers—he is great…. You know it is a good bus trip when tattoo man gets on! He gives you a nice little show at the end of his rant, by lifting his shirt up and showing everyone all his gang tats—very impressive. FYI… here in Honduras tattoos=gang… or at least that is what PC tells us and I guess it used to be as such a few years ago.
Tattoo man got off the bus and we continued on our way, stopping just outside of Teguc caught in traffic. Katie and I begin to wonder what is going on when we notice an hour has gone by and we still haven’t moved. We were about 20 minutes outside of the city. We began calling all the PC staff members to find out what has happened….. Apparently there had been a giant accident involving 2 semi trucks which was blocking both lanes.
Katie and I were faced with 2 choices…. Sit on the bus and wait it out, which could take god knows how long here in Honduras or foot it across the accident and hitchhike to the nearest gas station where the PC vehicle would pick us up. Of course, looking for our adventure we chose option #2.
We decided to get off the bus. We walked for about 10 mins through all the buses and cars which were all backed up due to said accident, we got in the back of a pick up so we could get up closer to the accident by driving on the shoulder. We went as far as we could in the truck, but soon enough we found the shoulder backed up with all the cars that had the same idea as us. We got out of the truck bed, footed it another 20 minutes down the highway. Finally arriving at the accident, where the 2 semi trucks had crashed into one another. At one point in time the cab of one of the trucks had been engulfed in flames and all that was left was the metal frame. Can only hope the driver escaped before this happen. We crossed the accident, walked for another 10 minutes, bought some yummies which some ladies were selling on the side of the road, explored the cemetery that we passed and waited to hitchhike to the gas station.
First car went by… full. As I wandered around by the cemetery, Katie waved the second one down….from a distance it looked like a pickup but up close we realized it was the scariest rape van you could ever imagine…. White van, no windows, 2 men in the front. They pulled up to see if we wanted a lift, and the side door slides open to reveal yet another big burly man in the back…. We looked at eachother, both terrified and politely declined. Finally we found a pickup with a nice little family inside, got in the back, arrived at the gas station where we waited with our other friend Andrea who was also stuck in the mess until the PC vehicle came to get us.
Just another day in the life of a Peace Corps volunteer…..

The day there was no Tigo

One day a few months ago, a couple weeks after coming to site, my dear friend Katie was going to come visit. We were going to explore Santa Rosa and possibly head to Gracias Lempira to visit our other friend Anna. That very same morning I had a date to learn how to make bagels from scratch (yes… it is possible to make them). Katie calls me about 8 am, in true Katie cheery fashion informing me she had gotten on the bus and would be here in 2 short hours. In the mean time I went to the restaurant, made my bagels, ate breakfast and noticed the time…. Katie had yet to call telling me she had arrived. Strange I thought seeing as it had been about 2hours and 20 mins. I tried calling her, but the call didn’t go through… maybe there was a spot on the road where there was no signal. I went home, showered…and still no Katie. I call again, call failed. Again… call failed. I soon come to realize that my fear has come true and the world in Honduras had come to a halting stop..... THERE WAS NO TIGO SIGNAL! For those who don’t live in Honduras, Tigo is the cell phone company that all peace corps volunteers use. It is our life-line, how we communicate, how the PC lets us know if the country is going to blow up or get hit by a hurricane. We were instantly flashed back to a time where PC communicated via courier pigeon and donkeys. The entire cell phone network country-wide had been turned off and poor Katie was in transit to Santa Rosa with no idea where I lived. I tried calling her a good 15 more times, I went out on a search of Santa Rosa on 2 separate occasions looking for my dear friend…making sure to check the places I thought would lure little Katie in, grocery stores and shoe store… still nothing!
Dear Katie was lost and I could only assume she was in Santa Rosa seeing as I knew she had left her site. In a last ditch effort I checked my email, thinking that maybe she found an internet café and thought to email me… still no word from Katie but our friend in Gracias had emailed me (seeing as calling was out of the picture). She was wondering where we were, if we were coming to Gracias still and seeing as neither of us knew where she lived, provided me with directions to her house… a thing I neglected to provide Katie with.
As the morning turned to the afternoon and the afternoon turned to evening… I quickly realized that Katie was never going to be found and I just prayed that she was ok.
Next day… we were back up and running with the cell phones and I found out that she did in fact arrive in Santa Rosa on time, but realized as she arrived there was no signal… she didn’t know where to go, had no money cuz the ATM was broken and decided to get lunch and turn back around to go back to Qumistan…. Santa Rosa would have to wait until another weekend.
How did life go one without cell phones!?!

Thank God for friends!

So I know I haven't written in a while, and I promise I will update lots soon. I have been having a computer crisis with the power cord frying up and then wireless card breaking... so now i am back up and running.
I just want to say how thankful I am for having great friends. I have been having a kinda rough time here in site with counterparts and such... and it all just came to a head this week. Tears were flowing, threats of leaving my office were running through my head... but low and behold right when i was down, I got a suprise visit from a couple of my closest friends here, Katie and Anna. They helped me get my mind off the problems and start looking forward instead of in the past. I don't know what I would do without them. THANK YOU thank you thank you.

No se que haria si no tuviera buenas amigas como uds....

-Kristina