"We never hide from history. We make history." -Sen. John McCain

Last night, Americans made history by electing the first African-American President, Barack Hussein Obama, the 44th President of the United States. Last night, Americans proved that they can do anything they set their minds to. And last night, Americans showed their intelligence and diligence by voting for change.

And I learned something last night. I have had my moments of cynicism and skepticism; I have doubted the faith of the American people and their ability to motivate themselves for good. But last night I learned that the people of the United States of America are ready for change. I learned that if they feel strongly enough, Americans will have their voices heard and their ballots counted. I learned that it doesn't matter if you're black or white, male or female, gay or straight; we can all come together and make something happen. And I learned that even though we made it this far, we know that the road ahead is long and treacherous. We know that our work isn't done. It's just beginning. We know that the change that we have longed for is still to come, and that we cannot just go home and sit idly by now that we have elected a new President. Our greatest work is yet to come.

I have not worked as long and as hard as many Americans in bringing this to pass, but I did my small part. I donated my small amount of money, I voted in my state, and I eagerly told anyone who would listen my reasons for supporting our President Elect. And I eagerly look forward to doing my small part in the weeks, months, and years to come. But I am glad to know, that even though the true test lies ahead, that we have taken the first step to making our world a little better.

If you didn't get a chance to see or hear it, I strongly suggest reading both John McCain's concession speech and Barack Obama's acceptance speech. Both moved and inspired me, and I have learned countless things from both of these men as they campaigned together these long months.

Our journey is far from over, and our tasks are piling before us. The worst and hardest days are yet to come, but I will stand with my fellow Americans to see that change is brought to pass. We cheered and cried last night, and today we will plan. I know that the iron-willed and strong-hearted people of the United States of America have voted into the White House change that we can believe in.

We will stand with our families and see our love strengthen. We will stand with our neighbors and see our cities grow. We will stand with our President Elect and see our nation flourish. We will stand with our country and see the world change.

Because we know that we have the power to change the world for good. We know that our future can only be brighter. We know, because Americans are the people who can bring change to our nation.

Yes, we can.

"When I came home from prison..."

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the writer.

Sorry, Mr. McCain. I can't let that go. I laughed when you said that. I know it's not funny that you were a prisoner of war, but maybe you should have said that instead of seeming to elude to a stain in your past.

The debate was fun to watch. I watched the beginning and then had to stop to eat dinner, but then we went over to Nathan's and had a debate watching party. We enjoyed watching the little audience reaction graph at the bottom of the screen, mainly because we didn't really know how it worked and because we liked watching it spike when Obama spoke, and then curve down whenever McCain opened his mouth. Again, sorry. But I was a little disappointed in Obama, with the whole bracelet thing. Big deal. You're above that. But it was a lot of fun, and I'm excited to see more.

On that note, I received my absentee ballot last week and I voted today! I'm so excited about this election (though, unfortunately, I could care less who is going to be the new Director of Zone 4. I don't even know what that means), and I'm excited that I can vote and make a difference. Well, hopefully make a difference. We'll see who actually gets elected.

What I'm really excited for, is the Vice Presidential debate this next Thursday. Joe Biden is going to eat Sarah Palin alive and (unfortunately or not) it's probably going to be funny. Sorry again, McCain, but just because Sarah Palin is a woman, does not mean that I will vote for you. You insult me by assuming that any woman in the White House is the right woman. Frankly, I am terrified that he will get elected and then something will happen to him and Sarah Palin will be leading our nation. I'm all for women in leadership, but not women who deny knowledge of the charging of rape kits in their city, and women who refuse to speak with the media so that we actually have an idea of what they know (those are the same person, by the way).

Finally, I wish to extend a heart-felt thanks to Tina Fey, whose brilliant and somewhat uncanny representation of Sarah Palin on SNL brought joy to my heart and laughter to my lips. Thank you for returning to the show to give us an accurately ridiculous interpretation of the hockey mom who should not be a Vice Presidential candidate. I salute you, Tina Fey.

For all of you who wish to view this gem, here is the link (I can't figure out how to post the video on here, sorry). Tina Fey as Sarah Palin. SNL might just be funny again.

Thank you all for tuning in to the political views of Rebekah Jon Whittaker. Tune in next week for more somewhat biased and not-totally-researched opinions on the future of our government. Till then, shalom!

And don't forget: "I can see Russia from my house!"

One more week...

...and a thousand more fingerprints. I'm very tired, and I hope that I find out if I'm hired again soon. That way I can plan my vacation, and I'll be getting paid more (which is a definite bonus).

I watched the Hours a couple of weeks ago. I just finished reading the book again, and although I liked the movie for itself, I really disliked it as a film of the novel. Everything was all wrong. I understand that it's very hard to make a film out of a book that is mostly thoughts and ideas with hardly any dialogue, but nothing was as it should be. The casting was wrong, the characters were wrong, even the whole theme was slightly off. It lacked...sincerity. Or reality. Something was missing, something that made it a genuine story of three women whose lives are intricately connected. I didn't like it. I was also suddenly struck with how much I do not think that Meryl Streep is pretty. Not at all. Her mouth is too small. How strange. But there were a few things that I liked about the movie. The music was phenomenal. I thought that it fit the film perfectly. And Nicole Kidman. She was absolutely brilliant. She was the only part of the movie that I thought fit right. I couldn't even really tell that it was her. Because it wasn't her. It was Virginia Wolff. She was absolutely incredible, and watching her was the best part of the movie. The rest of it was ok, but nothing like the book. And now I almost regret seeing it because I don't want to associate the two. Oh well. It is done, and I have my opinion.

I also just watched the Great Mouse Detective. Now there is a great movie. Not only is the casting phenomenal, but the style and the music (oh, the music!) is tremendous. Quite a nifty little film, though I can see how I was so scared of the Big Ben scene at the end. It is a little frightening.

I have been having such strange dreams lately. There was the one a couple of nights ago, where I dreamed that there was a man standing at the side of my bed, wearing a white lab coat, and for some reason I was really scared that he was there. I kept trying to turn on the light so that I could see better, but the electricity wasn't working (this was also the morning that my set alarm clock didn't go off), so I woke up really scared and I couldn't sleep for a long time. Then I had one another night where I was at a high school, visiting some old friends or teachers or something, and I was wearing this weird 80's outfit. The part I remember the most was we were standing in line in the cafeteria, and I climbed up on a railing and looked over a counter to where Sara (from La Grande) was sitting on the ground with an Asian-looking girl and they had somehow gotten cake on each other. I laughed and said that they should rub it on each other, and some small middle school boys said, "yeah, that would be hot." I climbed back down and turned around to the line again, a little annoyed, mostly because I had been thinking the same thing. Then last night I had a really weird dream, where I was trying on all of these different sun dresses (I liked the green one best, but it had long sleeves, so I got the white one) and hanging out by a pool with all of these weird popular people. Then there was an area of the house that used to be a kitchen (but was now separated) and it was filled with snow and there was a young boy huddling on the ground in there. I took his face in my hands and I asked him if he was homeless. He said yes, and so I had the kitchen rebuilt for him (it was kind of like those sped-up parts of movies) so he could live there. The last part I remember of the dream was that Liz and I were cleaning out a cave filled with trash that had belonged to Davey, that we were using for some reason, and there were a bunch of people with Horner Hornets sweatshirts and beanies. That's all I remember. Weird, huh? I wouldn't want it any other way.

Well, I guess I'd better be going. I'm trying to decide if I want to stay up and watch the final two episodes of the first season of House, but since tomorrow is Saturday, what the heck? Why not? So, till later, my friends! I'm off to O.D. on House, M.D.! Shalom!

9/11

The world is unfair. Things like going to the dentist and shaving your legs are such ordinary things, so mundane, while there are people who woke up this morning crying because there is someone missing in the bed next to them, or in the next room, or down the street. There are people crying because two towers fell this morning, and I cried for one quiet moment before going back to taking fingerprints to allow people into the United States. There are people crying because they were there this morning, walking to work or buying breakfast, and they saw the smoke and the fire and the planes.

The world is cruel. I thought, how I hoped, that I would be one of those people who goes their entire life without seeing a dead body. And yet as we passed that bus that had crashed into the mountain and saw that car that no one could have survived in, I saw the man sprawled on the street and I cried. I cried because seven years ago today thousands of people lost their lives clinging to steel and concrete and hundreds of people gave their lives digging through the rubble to bring pieces of their loved ones home. For seven years people have been trying to forget and struggling to remember the last thing they said to their husband or their wife, their sister or brother, their mother, their father, their aunt, their uncle, their cousin, their next door neighbor, and the man they never invited to their parties. For seven years the rest of us have been living our lives, laughing just as loudly, cursing just as strongly, hating just as fiercely. Shouldn't we be speaking less, crying more? Why did we survive and they die? Why were our meaningless lives spared when, seven years ago today, innocent men and women had their lives stolen from them in a cruel and painful way? How can we live our insignificant lives while people are crying because seven years ago today, they stared in horror as the tower that held their loved one crumbled?

The world is distant. I wasn't there this morning, when the sky was filled with smoke and fire and the screams of dying souls. I wasn't there when the buildings fell and the streets jammed and the calls kept coming. I wasn't there when the flag was flown and the police and firemen and volunteers swarmed over the smoldering ruins to find those who survived and the bits of those who didn't. And I'm not there now, while the nation stops in silence for the men and women who died seven years ago, and for the men and women who have died fighting since.
But I was there when the museums and monuments was built. I was there when that woman told us about her son, the man with the red bandanna, who rescued countless people and never made it out. I was there when the other woman told us about how she used to work on the 93rd floor of that tower, and how her department had moved to a different building a week before the towers fell. I was there when there was a hole in the sky and the blue shone down where there should have been towers. I was there, and I cried.

Why do they call it Labour Day when you get the day off of work?

I am sorry that it has been so long since my last post. Life has been very busy and very tiring, and I just haven't gotten around to posting. I am sorry that I didn't report on the Copan trip in detail, but there are pictures on my Facebook if you want to look at those (and more coming soon!). And there will be more pictures from this trip; one of the guides brought a camera and he's going to give us all of the pictures he took soon. And he took some very good ones. And also please ignore any typos or spelling errors. I'm tired and too lazy to read through this whole thing to check for errors or edit my sentences. Usually I like to do that (I generally don't like the first drafts of my work), but not today.

But now on to the last trip! Since last weekend was a three-day weekend, Mary and Dad and I were kind of discussing what we should do on Monday. We never really talked about it, though I suggested going up to La Tigra to go hiking, because Melissa didn't have the day off of school (she has half of the American holidays and half of the Honduran holidays; it's strange). So I was just planning on some sort of day trip. However, on Thursday or Friday Melissa and I were informed that we were going to Tela for the whole three-day weekend, and that we were leaving Saturday at 7:00 am. I had been receiving emails all week (as did everyone else in the Embassy) from the Spanish Instructor about this Spanish Immersion tour that was going to Tela for the weekend. Tela is on the north coast of Honduras, about a 5 1/2 hour very bumpy bus ride from Teguc. I didn't think we were going, because it was very expensive and the schedule was very full, and I don't really enjoy vacations where you can't sleep in or have much free time. When I found out that we were going (by telling the parents that I wanted to talk about the weekend and being informed that we had already paid for it), it wasn't going on the trip that was upsetting. It was the fact that we never discussed it as a family. I know Melissa is not technically an adult yet, but I feel that we deserve to be treated as adults and as responsible members of the family when it comes to making those sort of decisions. I was just upset that we never sat down, as a family, and said, "hey, here are our options. If we don't want to go on this trip, what else can we do?" We never had that discussion, and that (plus the fact that I had to get up earlier to go on vacation than I normally do to go to work) made us all a little grumpy come Saturday morning. (*The trip turned out all right; nothing like what I wanted, but there were some good elements.)

We were on a tour bus sort of thing, but it was kind of older, so though it did have televisions, it didn't have a bathroom and the air conditioning stopped working a couple of hours into the trip. I slept most of the way, and we stopped at a rest stop/restaurant called Bongo's for breakfast. They had a buffet style and it was actually pretty good. Their pinapple was better than it is here in Teguc. There was also a lot of cheap crap for sale, including some very ugly and very tacky t-shirts, which none of us bought. After we had satisfied our hunger, it was back on the bus to Tela! They did show a couple of movies. I didn't watch them because I was sleeping, but I think it was Evan Almighty and The Devil Wears Prada (*which is interesting, and you'll know why later).
When we finally got to Tela, we checked into the hotel, put our things in our little room (which was one of four in a sort of house; they were all next to each other and they were actually quite nice), and went to lunch. The hotel is very nice, which is probably why it was so expensive, but we were in the older part. They are remodeling and were working on some newer buildings on the other side (we never heard anything). The first thing we noticed when we got there is that it is very humid and warm. It wasn't too much of a problem, except that I was wearing jeans, one of the only two pairs of pants I had brought (which proved to be a problem) and I was anxious to get into the water. However, we had a trip planned soon after lunch.

We all got back on the bus and drove a little way out of town to a botanical park called Lancetilla. I have no idea what that means, so don't ask. We sat in the bus for almost half an hour outside of the entrance, because the guy at the front decided that there was no one in the park so it was ok to close it, and we had to argue with him to let us in. I think because of that, our visit wasn't very long. We saw this crazy tree coming in (second picture) that had all of these weird hanging bird's nests in it. The tree was standing alone in a kind of field, and we have no idea what type of birds they were or why they decided to only roost in that tree. The world sure is full of mysteries. Also, strangely, there was a lot of bamboo in this park, but it was very beautiful, and there was one section of the park where you had to walk through a tunnel of it. There was also this crazy weird spiky plant. All in all, it wasn't that exciting, but it was pretty, and it was nice to walk around after being in a car all day. When we got back, we ate dinner (all of the meals were in one restaurant, and they were all buffet, which was kind of nice) and then Melissa and I decided to go swimming. No, wait. I think we went swimming before dinner. I suppose it doesn't really matter. Anyway, it was already dark, and so we went swimming in the pool (of which there were two) and this pool was freakin' awesome. There was a little kid end, with a platform with slides, and then a middle, with bridges and a little islands with palm trees that were like showers and a slide, and then the far end, that had a volley ball net and a bar. There was also a section of the side that had fountains coming out of the ground, like the thing outside of the Crate in Medford. Melissa and I enjoyed ourselves, mostly sliding down the slide, which we discovered was really fun to do on your stomach (though it was also painful; I still have bruises on my hips). After that, we were so exhausted that we just went to bed.

The next day was very interesting, and a lot of fun. After breakfast, we took a van (*not recommended; we were sitting on benches on the side of the back of this van, and there were no seatbelts. We also took this van to "Miami.") to a place in town, right up next to a delta, where we all got life jackets and got into a boat to visit Punta Sal. However, soon after, we had to push this boat across a sand bar so that we could get into the ocean. This was actually one of my favourite parts of the trip. We had to push the boat into the waves, and I helped everyone get on, and as the waves came higher and higher, I gave my cell phone to Melissa (after realizing that it was in my pocket, which was getting covered with waves. Oops), and then when everyone was in, I jumped up into the boat. Then we drove on the open sea for about 35 minutes to get to Punta Sal. This was awesome. I have never traveled on the open sea, especially in so little of a boat (see picture below; above is Punta Sal), and it was wonderful to ride the boat and look out into the ocean and see nothing but sky and sea. I loved watching the swell bob up and down, and I realized how wonderful and loving the ocean is, and how kind of a mother she is, housing so many millions of creatures. It also made me realize that I never want to be shipwrecked on the open ocean.

This is everyone on the boat. The people in the row behind Melissa were not part of our group. They were actually engineers from Wyoming on vacation and happened to be on the same tour as us. We told them that we worked at the American Embassy, and to call us if they ever lost their passports. Punta Sal, when we got there, was very beautiful. We went right up to the shore (which was about two inches wide) and disembarked so that we could hike through the jungle. Unfortunately, nobody ever told us that were were going to be doing any hiking, and so most of us were in flip flops, and we had two broken flip flops within the first ten. I think everyone managed all right though. Our guide, Alberto, told us that generally it would be ok, but if he started running to run too, and not ask questions, because he had seen a jaguar and wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible. We didn't see a jaguar. However, we did see howler monkeys, that we woke up and got yelled at by them because of it. I think one of my life goals has been fulfilled. I have seen a monkey in the wild. How cool. We did take one little detour, and went and stood in a little bay, where apparently Captain Morgan buried some treasure (which is why they really don't let anyone in there) and where the land curves around to form the bay. I was looking out of the entrance, and into the sea, and I realized that what I wanted more than anything was for a pirate ship to come around one of the sides of the bay just then. It didn't happen. When we were finished hiking, we got back in the boat and dropped the other tourists off on the other side of the island (at a house; don't worry, we didn't abandon them) and we were supposed to go snorkling there, but the water was too murky, so we ended up just going back. We helped push the boat across the bar again, but then we realized that our hotel was just down the beach, so most of us walked back.

After eating lunch and taking a short nap, we all met up again to go visit this Garifuna community called Miami. Melissa didn't go because she wasn't feeling well, and it's a good thing she didn't, because we were in that crazy van again, but this time we were driving over really bumpy, sandy roads with a crazy crazy driver. Dad (who, by the way, has a cracked rib, from falling on it while playing Ultimate Frisbee) was in a lot of pain, so he rode back in the nice truck. That had seat belts. And air conditioning. But Miami was ok. It was really awkward, because there weren't a lot of people around, and we literally just walked through their living spaces. Each family would have a different building for cooking, for sleeping, for gathering, and we just kind of walked through it all. It was awkward. And there were lots of sand fleas and I got bitten up the wazoo, because although I did put bug spray on, I then rolled up my pants and took off my shoes. Silly me. Above is a picture of the little village.

After walking around for approximately fifteen minutes, we got into another boat, and this time toured a lagoon. It was rather pretty, but by that time I was really tired and a little sick of boats, but everyone was going so I didn't have much of a choice. We saw these cool tangle root trees in the water (above) and then we saw some cool birds (mostly egrets, pelicans, and cormorants, but we did see this cool pink bird, that had a flat beak). The best part about that trip was that the sun was setting behind the edge of the lagoon, so we got some good pictures of that (the first one, and then I like this one because of the pelican in it). So by the time we got back into the cars to leave, it was dark. Our van got stuck (of course), so we had to all help push it out, and then we got to drive back on that same bumpy road, only this time in the dark, which is a lot scarier in my opinion. However, we made it safely back to the hotel, with just enough time for dinner. When we got to the restaurant, however, we found that it was no longer buffet style, and we were the only ones there. I think it was because since it was an American holiday tomorrow, we were staying an extra day, but all of the Hondurans had to go back to work. But I had some Parmesan chicken and a virgin lime margarita and quite enjoyed myself. Melissa and I were going to go on a walk after dinner, but it was really dark on the beach and crabs kept pinching her (her, not me) and so we just went to bed.
But you see, a vacation at the beach is not a vacation at the beach until you go swimming in the ocean. We had no time to do that before, because we were always off doing other things, but I was determined to spend time in the Caribbean before I left.

And so, the next morning, even though I could have slept in, I got up early and went to breakfast so that I could play in the ocean before we left that morning at ten. I should have gotten up earlier, because breakfast took longer than I thought it would (pancakes with cinnamon sugar; I've never tried that before, and it's really good) and so we got a grand total of 45 minutes in the water. Pooh. But it was enjoyable while it lasted. We swam out to meet the waves, and toward the end, the tide was coming out and so we would be pushed toward the shore by the incoming waves and then (sometime simultaneously) we would be pushed back towards the ocean by the outgoing waves. The water wasn't really clear, but it was still refreshing and still fun.

After playing in the water, we went back to our rooms, showered and packed, and then got back on the bus to go home. Another long drive, and this time they only played one movie (Ratatouille, which is a really good movie) and we got home at about six in the evening. Long day, long trip, and even though it wasn't ideal, there were some elements that I enjoyed, and so it was all right. This is a picture of me and Dad swimming in the ocean. Go Melissa (she took the picture) for getting the big boat in the background. And now that I'm looking at this picture, I am realizing how strange and fake Dad and I look. We look like Legos. And our arms are at almost the exact same angle. Weird. So yeah. It wasn't the best trip and I wish we had discussed our options before diving into something like this, but it was kind of fun. And we got to practice our Spanish a little bit with people from the North Coast (who are hard to understand, for me) and with the Spanish instructor.
Well, I guess that's it for now. I was going to write about a couple more things, but this is long enough as it is, and it would be changing the subject, so I won't go into that. Stay tuned for now, and you can always go on Facebook to see more pictures. I love you all, and hope you enjoy reading about my adventures! Oh, and I'll get some pictures of the house up here soon. Love to all! Shalom.

"The sky is the daily bread of the eyes." Ralph Waldo Emerson

"I thank you God for most this amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes." e.e. cummings


This is the view I have from my window. Beautiful, isn't it? At night I can see all of the lights glittering on the hills, and in the evening, right when I get home, the sky is filled with the last rays of sunlight as the sun disappears behind the hill that faces my window. I am very lucky.

Last weekend was rather fun. After we cleaned the house, I went and hung out with Lili, the girl that I met at Zamorano, who is here teaching someone's children Chinese. It took us about twenty minutes to find each other, because since I don't have a cell phone yet, we expected to just meet at a certain place. Well, our family got to that certain place (late, of course), and while we were driving up, we saw her standing outside waiting. And then, somehow, in the time that it took us to drive up there and drop me off, she disappeared. So I stood and waited for her (this was at the entrance to the mall, which is right across the street from the hotel) and then I wandered over to the hotel to look and then wandered back and then finally saw her coming out of the mall. Apparently she went to go walk around while waiting and we couldn't get in contact with each other. But after that, it was great. We went swimming at the Inter-Continental (we just walked in; no one seemed to notice. Or care) which was very pleasant, though slightly awkward because there was some sort of reception going on with lots of people dressed up nicely and lots of food that we wanted to eat. Then we went to the mall and walked around and talked. We thought about going and seeing a movie, but for some reason the lines at the ticket window were horrendously long (well, it's probably because there's nothing else to do on a Saturday around here) and so we decided against that. We walked around outside, over by PriceSmart and Payless and found a little bakery where we got a delicious dessert (we didn't know what it was called; we just pointed and said "uno"). It had layers of yummy, flaky pastry dough with caramel in between, and then white chocolate drizzled with milk chocolate on top. It was delectable. We ate outside on the little balcony (which was covered, luckily) and talked and watched the rain pour down. It was raining really really heavily, when all of a sudden we saw a bright flash, and then heard a loud boom as we watched a transformer, just down the street from us, explode. We had no idea what really happened; we thought it might have been struck by lightning, but I've never seen lightning in this country before, so I don't know. The lights went out in the stores (surprise, surprise) and we just kind of sat there in shock for a moment. It was kind of cool though, because it immediately bonded us with the people who were sitting at the table next to us. Even though we didn't speak each other's language, everyone recognizes the language of fear and surprise, and we all laughed together about the crazy experience we shared.

We split up soon after that. We walked around the mall again (oh, side note: The power goes off frequently here, and most large stores and houses have huge, car-sized generators to keep the electricity going. That's what it was like in the mall. Most of the stores didn't have lights, but the main lights were on because the generator was going. We could barely hear each other) and counted the number of Dunkin' Donuts inside. I was wrong. It was only five. We took Lili home after that. She lives really close to me, and so we hope that we can do a lot more before she leaves in a couple of months.

Speaking of which, we are doing something together this weekend. We are going to Copan. The family that Lili works for has time off this weekend, and so she was going to take a trip to see the Copan Ruins, and invited me to go with her. Those sort of trips are much more fun with another person, anyway. So I easily got Thursday and Friday off of work, and we're leaving tomorrow at like, 6:00 in the morning to take a bus to San Pedro Sula, and then get on another bus for another couple of hours to get to Copan. It's about a seven hour trip, but I'll sleep most of the way and then be awake for us to do fun things tomorrow afternoon. I'm very excited. It's very safe (since it's mostly back-packing and hiking tourists) and we can go walking around without worrying. It's going to be very nice. I'm taking to camera, so I'll be sure to take lots of pictures and post them soon after I get back! We can go horseback riding, and touch ruins, and look at birds and stuff. My weekend is going to ROCK!

I know that some of you already know this, but I'm currently in the process of enrolling at the Animal Behaviour College, where I will soon be certified as an official dog obedience trainer. I was just filling out the loan application and getting all my enrollment information in order so that I can start my classes here online! I'm very excited, and it's going to be a really great job once I get back to the States. I'm hoping that I'll be able to create a stable work schedule so that I can earn money for college, and then still work part-time once I'm in classes again. I am very happy, and I can't remember the last time I was this excited to be in school and learning about something. I hope to go back and live in Alameda once I'm ready to complete my volunteering and externship, and that I can have my own place and live comfortably and happily (because, hopefully, I'll have my own furniture and money to buy food).

I just finished reading three books (in a record amount of time, I must say) that I have to recommend. I borrowed them from Lisa, our neighbor, because as much as I love Sherlock Holmes, there is only so much of it you can read at one time. I read the Alchemist first, and it was simply amazing. It is an intellectual and spiritual journey that engages you right from the beginning, and I hope to own it someday. The next book, The House of the Spirits, was so good that I finished all 420+ pages in five days because I simply could not put it down. It is incredibly well-written, and the story is very...pressing. Yesterday (Liz will like this one) I just finished the Lovely Bones, which I'm sure she's been trying to get me to read for at least a year. I loved it. The ideas involved are so complex and yet so simple, and the whole concept is fascinating. I really enjoyed it, and so I am passing on the recommendation. Even though I did get my book club books in the mail this week, I'm going to read the last book that I borrowed from Lisa, Love in the Time of Cholera. I'm really catching up on my Latin and South American authors. I read quickly, so I'm sure I can read the book club book for August in time for the meeting (the Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, which I've already read, but quite some time ago).

I think that's all I have to say for now. I love you all, and I hope that you enjoy these little reports on how I'm doing and what I do in the few hours of free time I have. I hope that you are all doing well, and I hope that you find inspiration in your own lives, whether it comes from reading a good book, spending time with a friend, or simply gazing at a beautiful sky. Shalom!

"One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things." ~ Henry Miller

Hello again, to all my fine friends and family! I seem to have received some positive feedback on the last post, so here we go again! I must apologize if I leave things out that you are curious about; feel free to ask questions, because even though it's only been a week, things move pretty quickly so it's easy to lose track.

Ok. In order for these pictures to make sense chronologically, I must backtrack a little. As I think I mentioned before, we arrived in Tegucigalpa on a Friday in the early afternoon. We unpacked, freshened up, and were immediately invited to a barbeque that our neighbors (Justin and Lisa) were having that night. We were able to meet a lot of nice people and learn about the area and what to do and it was really nice to feel like we have some people we can go to with questions and what not. Saturday we spent all day shopping. Chad, one of our sponsors, took us to the grocery store (La Colonia) and the PriceSmart, where we bought enough to last us a couple of weeks. The problem is, since we're living in temporary housing, we don't want to stock up on food and have to move it all, so we go grocery shopping pretty often. But it was a long and tiring day. Sunday another Embassy employee, Rachel, took us and her adorable little daughter Antonia to a village called Valle de Angeles. Valley of Angels. We ate at a little restaurant that I think has been there since the town was first built, and then wandered around for a bit before it was time for Antonia's nap. Valle is a beautiful little place with cobblestone roads and a pleasant little square to relax in. It's kind of a tourist stop, with mostly tourists and missionaries going through, but it's very pretty and you can buy all the souvenirs you like at quite inexpensive prices. I definitely want to go back someday. Here's a picture down one of the streets. It also poured that day, so we ate lunch first to wait till it let up, and just when we were getting ready to go, we lingered over a conversation, and it started again and we had to wait even longer. But it was very sunny and fresh after that.

Our next big adventure came on Monday, when Dad and I started work. We lingered just inside the Embassy for a while, waiting to see if we should just go and explore or wait for someone to find us, when someone came (I don't remember who now) and found us, and took me to the HR Office so I could check in, and Dad around to where he needed to go. I waited in the HR Office for a while for someone from AID to come get me, after filling out some more paperwork and getting my fingers printed (which is really complicated, though it seems so simple) and then I pretty much hung out all day in the Trade, Environment,and Agriculture office where I now work. I have my own office, and my own computer, where I write emails and surf the web all day because I haven't been given much to do. They try to help me out and give me files to organize and papers to copy, but there's a woman who used to work here who is really supposed to show me what to do. She works in another department now, and just hasn't found the time to come down and show me the ropes. I hope she will soon, otherwise I have to ask to switch to part-time or temporarily suspend my employment, because I don't feel comfortable being paid to use the Internet and read all day. So we'll see what happens in the next week or so. That's about all I'm going to say about work, because really, there's not much else to say. Except that Dad and I ate lunch in the cafeteria for the first few days as we were settling into the new house, and we soon heard of the ever famous tortilla soup day (which, incidentally, is Tuesday, but I brought my lunch today). So we dutifully got our tortilla soup and it was amazing. They fill the bowl with chicken, tortilla strips, cheese (which was really salty and squeeky), and cilantro before pouring the actual soup in, so it's packed with yummy things and not just broth. It was really good. Everything else we've had there has been ok. Not great, but not awful. Thursday we had our security and health briefings, so Mary and Melissa came in for that day. The guy giving the security seminar was really not totally there mentally, but it's the guy whose house we're going to live in and it was his last day, so we didn't really mind. We had heard most of it at the Security Seminar at F.S.I. anyway. The health briefing was ok, though by that time I was dead tired, but the lady who gave it was really nice. We talked about bugs and the lack of rabies vaccine and dengue and which hospitals are the best in this area. Quite informative.

Friday was no work day! Hurrah for the Fourth of July! The Ambassador was having a big reception at his house that day, but we weren't invited (probably because we haven't been around long enough) and so we went to the mall and saw a movie. I wore my College Democrats shirt to feel semi-patriotic, and we randomly met a guy in an ice-cream shop who served his mission here and is now stationed here for the...Navy? I don't remember. Something like that. But that was at the end of our trip. At the beginning, we wandered around the mall looking for shoes and slacks that I can wear to work (no luck so far), but the mall is huge. And there are at least six Dunkin' Donuts in there. Then we went to the movies, which is also in the mall. They had four movies playing: Wall-E, Kung Fu Panda, Hancock, and Get Smart (which goes in this country as Secret Agent 86). I wanted to watch Wall-E, but both the cartoons were dubbed, so we had to choose between Hancock and Get Smart, which were both in English with Spanish subtitles. None of us were too interested in Hancock (we've heard that although the effects are amazing, the plot kind of sucks) and I wasn't too interested in Get Smart, but we watched that and it was actually a lot funnier than I thought it would be. Some jokes were a little excessive, but I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Not the original, but pretty good anyway.

Saturday we took a bus at 10:30 to this agricultural college called Zamorano for a Fourth (or really Fifth) of July celebration. It was a little different than we expected, but it was still a lot of fun. This is a picture of some of the scenery going up to the campus.

Here's another picture from the drive. This is on my side of the bus, but I don't remember this picture at all, so Dad must have taken it. I think it's pretty cool. Lots of pine trees.

At this celebration there were food tents, craft tents, chess tents, a paintball arena, a motorcycle and car exhibition, sports, and cool stuff for kids (like horseback riding, teeter-totters, and a big blow up jumpy house thing). We didn't have much time when we first got there, because Dad was manning the Absentee Ballot Registration table at noon, so we wandered around looking at food and stuff and then I went to help him for a while. We ate lunch when his hour was up, and were about to find the horse jumping exhibition (that had just been announced), when we found out that the helicopters that were on display were taking off soon because of the weather. So we went and watched that, and I must say that it was pretty amazing. Here's one of the helicopters they had. These are US Military vehicles, by the way.

Here's the other one. I must admit, I had a hard time looking at that thing and imagining it getting off the ground, let alone flying away. But it did just that, and they circled around us and waved and then flew off into the distance. It was pretty rad. And windy.

After that, we asked someone about the horse jumping exhibition, and that someone pointed in one direction though we really ended up going somewhere else, because the direction that person pointed evidently led to nowhere. We ran into Justin and Lisa coming from the way we were headed, and they pointed us to where the rest of the campus was and where the horses probably were, though they suspected it was a pretty far walk from there. Which was true. But we walked around the campus for a while when we saw that apparently everything had ended before we got there (including the soccer and softball games), but the area was so pleasant we didn't really mind. It is a beautiful campus. I would like to go there just to be in that environment. Everyone in the Embassy likes to go there because they can walk around and it's very pretty. It's got a hotel and a pool if you want to stay, and I hear you can go horseback riding for quite inexpensively. And not on a trail, either. Just riding where you want to go. I guess provided that you don't get lost. You probably have a guide anyway. I don't know. I need to check it out. So we walked around, saw that there was a soccer game going on (it looked like a community team) and so we tried watching for a while, but the sun was very very hot on our arms, so we left. We had sunscreen, but the Honduran sun is very strong sometimes. So we wandered back, making sure to stop by the chapel that Lisa had told us about earlier. And it was gorgeous. The stained glass windows are scenes from agriculture and the school, the sides are all open air, and the woodwork on the ceiling is simply amazing. There's a balcony with really old benches, and access to the bell rope for the bell tower. We didn't ring it. We just sat there for a while, admiring the handiwork and watching the kittens that were sleeping in the pews. There were three, and they looked quite unhealthy, but truthfully those are the first cats we've seen in this country. Though I'm going to try and adopt a cat from a woman who's leaving for another post pretty soon. Our new house has a big yard, and if I can't get a dog, maybe I can get a cat. But here's a quick (and unfortunately, small) view of the chapel. It's also non-denominational.

I wish all of Honduras looked like Zamorano, but I guess we can't have everything. After that, we headed back to the main Student Center where the booths were, and just hung around until the bus was ready to leave at 5. We found some ice cream, and bought some Zamorano products, like wheat bread, mango jam, and honey. We already buy Zamorano milk here in town. Here's a picture of the Absentee Ballot booth, and, from left to right, is a girl that I don't know filling out an application, Sarah, Chad (they're married, and they're our sponsors) and that's Justin actually looking at the camera. Oh, one detail about Justin and Lisa that I failed to mention before. Justin is tall. Like, really tall. Like, 6'7" tall. Our whole family feels very intimidated standing next to him. But Lisa, his wife, is probably 5'4" or so. It's quite strange, but they are very cute together, and we're glad they are our neighborinos.

One final picture of the Student Center where the celebration was held, and that's it for Zamorano. Oh! No, it's not. Rachel found us and told me about a girl who was my age who was here teaching some woman's child Chinese, and that she didn't really know anyone here. So it wasn't until about 4:30 that we found her and we introduced ourselves and started talking. Her name is Lili, and she's been here about two weeks now and starting to get bored with not being able to really go anywhere. So she gave me her email and we plan on doing something together at some point. And if we don't feel safe, we can always call the Marines to come do something with us. I should probably email her soon. But that was nice. She seems like a really cool girl.

Well, that's about it! We went to church on Sunday, though only sacrament meeting, and afterwards drove around familiarizing ourselves with the city. Wait. I think I said that in the last entry. Oh well, you can hear it again. I'm at work again now, filling the time by writing in my blog, which I hope you all enjoy. I know I'll have at least one picture the next time I post, because the sky was really pretty outside my window yesterday so I took a picture. But I'll keep you updated, and write in the next week or so! I love you all, and sincerely hope that you are doing well whatever you're doing and in whatever country you're in, and I wish you love and happiness! Shalom!

"This wasn't a strange place; it was a new one." ~ The Alchemist

Hi-diddly-ho, good neighborinos! That's a phrase that our dear friends and neighbors Justin and Lisa use every time they see us (namely Justin). They have an adorable little 6-month-old named Jonas, who looks remarkably like Jack-Jack, and who really likes Dad. They have been kind enough to help us through our move here, including letting us use their phone and internet (and now their books) at our whim. They are very nice and live just a few houses down from us.
But, let's start from the beginning. I'll try to be as detailed as I can, but I have some pictures to help chronicle the adventure that was our move to Tegucigalpa, Honduras! Also, please excuse any typos, as it's hard to stare at a computer screen for so long without losing a little focus. But first of all, we spent two nights in Miami, Florida before flying out, and they were remarkably unexciting. We went swimming in the hotel's very small pool, saw the bay at Coconut Grove, and ate at a cool restaurant that was right next to the airport. Other than that, we mostly slept and made sure we had our passports and luggage all ready to go.

Here is a picture of all of our luggage waiting to go to the airport in Miami, ready to fly out to Honduras. Twelve suitcases in all. You can imagine how annoying it was to drag those around two airports for three days. Luckily we checked all of them except for our carry-on's. It was still a pain.

We got to the airport at about 11:30, and our flight was scheduled for about 1, but when we got there, the woman who checked our bags told us that the flight was boarding at noon! Ah! We still hadn't eaten, so we were planning to go through security, eat our lunch, and then be ready to board the plane. So we rushed through security as quickly as was humanly possible (which wasn't very quickly, as you can imagine) and when we got to the counter for our flight, we found out that the plane was delayed and wasn't even going to be there for another hour and a half! At least we had time for lunch. We didn't get on the plane till about two, sat on it for about an hour, and then we finally took off. Now this plane ride was far from pleasant. First of all, there were three very small boys sitting behind Mary, Melissa and I, and they were banging their tray tables around and kicking our seats until I was ready to burst. It really wasn't that bad, because once the plane got going and the movie started, they quited down soon enough. However, I would have taken the kids any day over what else we had to endure. As soon as we took off (literally, as soon as we took off), the man in front of Melissa (who was in the middle) began throwing up. And he threw up the entire way there. I felt sorry for him, and I felt sorry for us, and I especially felt sorry for the people sitting next to him. We got the sound, and the smell, and it was just awful. I can't stand that sound, so I had to plug my ears every time he threw up. It was extremely unpleasant. So I would have much preferred the kids kicking my chair the whole way rathar than have that guy in front of us. Luckily, it was only about a two hour flight. Which also means, that we left Miami at about 3:15, and arrived in San Pedro Sula at about 3:30! Honduras runs on Mountain Time, so don't get confused.

When our driver's came to pick us up, we flew threw customs, waiting about a decade for all of our suitcases, and promptly found out that because we had arrived so late, and because it was such a long drive to Tegucigalpa, we had to spend the night somewhere about half-way. Apparently they didn't want us driving at night, because it's extremely dangerous and there is barely any visibility.

We were told that we were going to spend the night at a hotel called Las Brisas del Lago, or the Breezes of the Lake. However, no one could seem to tell us where it was, so we drove back and forth (in the dark, literally and figuratively) for about an hour, asking at least three people where the hotel was, before we were directed down a dark and sinister side street, and thirty bumpy and nerve-wracking minutes later we finally found the hotel. It looked like it had once been a very nice place (in the 70's, probably), and there was no one there. I guess since it's rainy season there aren't many tourists around, but it was still a little disheartening. After a quiet and small dinner in the large dining room (with a huge window where you could see the lake, when it was light outside), we retired to our room, where I was delighted to find this clock hanging on our wall.

Unfortunately, the flash blocked out the words, and I can't remember what it said, but it was pretty cool. I definitely felt protected all night. There were also these two completely inexplicable paintings on the walls of the rooms. The rooms were connected, with a big entryway in between (no door) and above Melissa and my beds was a pastel painting of flowers that looked like it had been drawn by a five-year-old. However, the painting above the parents' bed is impossible to describe. It was pink, purple, and light green painted in a sort of hilly pattern with strange black dots periodically dotting the borders. We really couldn't figure out what it was supposed to be, even after throwing ideas around every time we happened to glance at it, so we just ended up trying to ignore it as best as we could.

There are a couple things that are vital to know about this country. First of all, in this (the rainy) season, it gets dark at about 6:30 in the evening and light at about 4:30 in the morning. The second thing to know is that there are many beautiful and interesting birds in this country, that make the most obnoxious noises known to man. For example, while staying at this hotel, we were all rudely awakened at about 4:00 in the morning by a bird whose melodious timbre was extrodinarily similar to that of an alarm clock. I, for one, could not imagine why anyone would set their alarm for so early, until I realized that it wasn't stopping and that it must be some ungodly creature from the natural world. I covered my ears and tried to go back to sleep. Here in Tegucigalpa, while not only finding it impossible to sleep at all, the birds begin their song at about 3:00 in the morning, and I can't close my windows because I don't have an air conditioner in my room. Ah well. Such is life.

On with the story. Despite being old and inhabited with obnoxious birds, the hotel offered a view of the lake (Lake Yojoa) that was very beautiful. This was the view from our hotel room.

While Melissa and I were getting ready for the second leg of our driving tour through Honduras, Dad and Mary took a walk and took these lovely pictures. This is a ginormous grasshopper that they found chillin' on the cement.

This is a gorgeous picture of the lake from the back of the hotel.

I love this picture. I especially love the horse in it.

Now, mind you, not all of Honduras looks like this. Zamorano does, but we'll get to that later. I wish it did, but there are many places where people just dump their garbage on the side of the road and create car dumps on the sides of mountains. At first I had the thought that most of Honduras looks alike (with the old, tin roof houses and the laundry hanging out in the rain) but I soon realized that even though it was all of the same nature, every little village and every little town we passed through was different. I never got tired of seeing the kids in uniform, the horses and donkeys tied to the side of the road, the chickens, pigs, and cows wandering loose, and the skinny dogs lying in the shade. I wish I could have taken more pictures, but sometimes it was raining so hard you couldn't see out of the windows, and sometimes we just drove by too fast.

That's another thing about this country. There are zero driving laws. Actually, I think that the only thing you can get a ticket for (let alone be pulled over for) is talking on your cell phone while driving. Which I really haven't seen any of here. Everything else is legit. Lanes are really guidelines, people are always honking (though it's really to let you know that they are there) and speed limits are non-existant. I've heard someone describe it this way. "In Honduras, it's not like people are angry drivers. It's not road rage. It's like a mathematical problem. They are just trying to see how many cars can fit into a given space." And that's pretty much it. It's really more confusing than dangerous, anyway. The city has no plan. Someone just built a house here and someone else built a business there, and it all just kind of sprang up wherever it wanted to. Our task of driving around isn't quite so bad, because we have a set area that contains everything we need, and we are strongly recommended to not drive around those other areas. Yesterday, we went on a driving expedition (it's not so bad Saturday mornings and all Sunday) and Mary made sure she could get to our primary destinations: the Embassy, La Colonia, Paiz (grocery stores), Larach (a huge hardware store that sells anything you could imagine), PriceSmart (which is like a big Costco), and the mall. That's pretty much the extent of where we go. Larach is on the very edge of where we're recommended not to go, so we have to make sure we don't get lost over that way. Oh, and there are no street names. There are four main roads that take us where we need to go: La Paz (where the Embassy is), Juan Paulo Segundo (John Paul II), Morazon, and Suyapa (affectionately known to us as Sula-Pula, because Mary couldn't remember what it was called). But we have a lot of landmarks to get us around, like Ruby Tuesday's, the Inter-Continental Hotel, and Texaco. And the Embassy families have made up names for the other important roads, like the American School road, which we live off of, and the McDonald's road, which has a McDonald's at either end of it. Bear in mind, however, that if you're ever going to be driving around Tegucigalpa, never use a Dunkin' Donuts as a landmark. There are at least six in the mall alone, and I've lost track of how many there are in the city. At least two on every block. It's like Starbucks in San Francisco. Literally.

But on to more exciting things. We continued our journey through the hills on the way to Teguz, and were surprised to see the sort of vegetation they have lining the hills. Namely, pine trees. I don't know if you've ever seen pine trees growing side by side with banana trees, but it's a pretty bizarre sight. The countryside is very pretty, but I heard that in the dry season everything turns brown, which is a shame. I don't know where that is or for how long, but I like it better like this.

This is the view from our descent into Teguz. It's quite a magnificent sight. We got into the city in the early afternoon (two or three, I can't remember) and our drivers took us around for a bit before taking us to our house, which is on a hill right by the American School, in a gated community called Loma Alta. Oh, and about twenty minutes from the city, in the hills where we came from, is a wicked looking water park. We have to go someday.

Before I go on, let me apologize for the length of this blog. I'm proud of you for reading this far, and just now I have decided that once I'm finished talking about the house, I'm going to save the rest for another entry. This is just getting ridiculous, and I don't want you to get bored and stop; not when there's still so much more to tell you about! So the house, and that's it for today. I promise.

This is our house, from the outside. It's really quite nice, well-furnished, and has lots of space. There aren't any carpets on the floors, and since we don't really have much in the way of decoration, it's quite echoy. It's fun to sing in there, but when the tv is on, it's really loud. Mainly because the parents are deaf and can't hear it. We still have cable from the last people who lived here, which includes a few English channels not dubbed in Spanish, some sort of Japanese or Korean channel (with equally unfathomable Japanese or Korean or something subtitles), a German channel, an Italian channel, soap operas filmed in Portugese and dubbed in Spanish, and about 90 other Spanish channels. I must admit, however, that they do have quite a few good American movies on, that are very nicely dubbed, with very good voice-over work. It's always an adventure to see what's on in English. The other day I watched the Fifth Element. Good movie.

This is my room. It's really big, with a high pointed ceiling, and no air conditioner. I have a fan, but I keep my windows open all day and I have to keep my curtains open during the night so I can catch the breeze. Which becomes a problem when the birds start going at 3:00 and the sun soon follows. But I manage. There are closets all along the left side of the room (when you walk in) and cupboards above them. It's quite a large room, so it's kind of awkward because there's only those two small dressers, but it's all right. This picture was taken before I had unpacked. The other awkward thing about it, is before our sponsors gave us pillows (they are very nice and were very, very helpful; the sponsors, that is, not the pillows), all we had were these awkward plastic pillows that came with the furniture. They were extremely uncomfortable. And the funny thing is, when they replaced the mattresses and bedding to get rid of the buggy ones, they took away the gross plastic pillow, and replaced it with another one. So I have a nice pillow that I use for my head, and a weird plastic pillow that I use for between my knees when I'm lying on my side. It's awkward.

This is my bathroom. Notice the lack of counter space. Melissa kindly offered this room to me so that I wouldn't have to have the pink bathroom (which has ample counter space) but I'm glad I have this room, a reason which I'll get into in a moment.
There's me holding the camera while it flashes in the mirror. The shower is to the right, a large, square thing that didn't have a shower curtain at first, but luckily we got one the day we arrived. It's really quite nice, and I keep all of my toiletries on a shelf in the closet closest to the bathroom. Ha ha. Closet closest. That's hard to type. Anyway, we are fairly happy with the layout and location of the house, but there was only one small problem when we moved in. BUGS. A phenomenon that was totally inexplicable to everyone who we spoke with (mainly Lisa), the house was obviously not cleaned very well before we moved in. (We arrived on Friday, the people had moved out on Sunday; these people apparently had two live-in housekeepers and a stay-at-home mom and no one seemed to know about the bug problem). The Embassy hires some people to come in and clean the house, but it wasn't done very well, because the appliances were filthy, it wasn't really swept or dusted, and there were ants everywhere! I was lucky, and I only had ants in my bathroom; my room was clean but for some spiders hanging out on the ceiling. Melissa's room, on the other hand, was infested, not only with these teeny-tiny Honduran ants, but also with centipedes and spiders. The parents' room had all of these, plus big red ants. So we scrubbed everything down with a high concentration of bleach to cover their trail, but those ants are stubborn, and came back to the exact same spots. Since last week, we've used Raid (which killed them all in my bathroom; in fact, they're all still dead on the walls. I should probably clean that up), bleach, and had exterminators come spray outside the house. They sprayed a little bit inside, and placed ant traps, and there haven't been nearly as many ants as there have been. There are still some here and there, and we really need to tear off the baseboards, because that's where they're nesting, but at least it isn't what it was before. We also have had very few encounters with mosquitos, which is good, because dengue is becoming quite common in this area. We've had some other small problems, that no one else seems to have, like running out of water (just once, since the city is supposed to be pumping it into our cistern periodically) and people forgetting to pick us up for motor pool, but other than that we've been quite lucky. We have a car that we bought from someone who left last week, our UAB is here going through customs, so we should have that soon, and we should be getting our telephone and internet installed this week. So we really are doing all right. We'll probably be in this house for about three more weeks (keep your fingers crossed!) while the other family moves out of the house we're going to get and while they do repairs before we can move in. I have a full-time job, even if it's not very interesting, and I'm trying to learn more Spanish every day! One final picture, and I'll let you get on with your lives.

This is the view from my bedroom. Through the bars and over the razor wire, it's really a very beautiful view at night, since I can see all of the lights on the hillside. I hope that the next house has an equally pleasant view.

Well, I suppose that's it for today. I'm getting tired of typing, so I'll leave you to your various activities, and hope that this has helped you gain insight to life in a foreign country! Tomorrow I'll be sure to add more, with lots of pictures, and I wish you all happiness and success in your lives, wherever you may be! Shalom!