"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!