Hola!

So a lot happened today and I will try and describe it all.

First ,after a well needed good night sleep, Rodrigo picked me up this morning, and he was early. In fact I was still sitting up in the restaurant when he pulled up below and had to hammer my black tea and run down to meet him. He took me to the bank to change currency as well as to the Tigo, the cell phone store to get a phone. I officially have a Honduras phone number, which is 8 digits long, 11 if you count the area code. This was a lot of fun. Rodrigo knows only a little English and I know only a little Spanish, so it was quite the adventure. I did talk to a man while in line at the bank who had lived cumulatively 9 years in the US and knew really good English, so that was fun.

After running those errands Rodrigo had to get back to the school so he dropped me off at the hotel. Soon after Mr. Mira called me and said he had a place for me to look at up near the school. It is actually the same place where Mr. Bran, the other teacher who picked me up at the airport yesterday, lives. So I had my first Honduras taxi car ride (picture eventually of the small cars) and took the 15 minute drive up the mountain to Abundant Life Christian School. It is awesome. I will post pictures eventually but it is right on the side of the mountain with a beautiful courtyard with the class rooms, cafeteria, and multipurpose court (futbol and basketball). I also met the rest of the administrators as well as the rest of the teachers.

After taking a tour of the school we hopped in a truck and drove about 5 minutes further up the mountain to the house I was going to look at. It is in the same 100 yard stretch of where the rest of the teachers live. It was a nice home, for Honduran standards, and decided it would work very well. I will have my own room with a full size bed, a closet (portable) a small desk as well as a small tv. The owners of the house already have dish television and it is only going to cost me 150 lempiras a month to get my own box, which is only about $8. Along with my room there is a bathroom, with hot water. The owner of the home will also make breakfast and dinner for me during the week (I eat lunch at the school) and will make all three meals for me on Saturdays and Sundays. All of this for the modest price of 3,600 lempiras, or about $190. So, to that ,I say "score." I guess if I were to have my own apartment in Gracias, which also means I would need to get up to the school everyday, I would be paying around just 3,000 lempiras for the room, and would have to get my own furniture as well as make myself food. So again, I say "score."

On top of these pretty awesome living conditions, the other teachers, who yes, are all girls, live right across the street and up the street. Well today, in fact while I was up there, they had satellite internet installed with two wireless routers, so I will have internet at home now as well. So again, a third "score."

After touring my new room and meeting the girls Mr. Lara drove all of us down to Gracias where we all grabbed some dinner. I am still not sure how to spell what I had, but it was Honduran. It was basically a tortilla with a white type of butter, eggs, avocado and some meat (chicken?) in it. The girls told me I had to try it and it was really good, especially with some hot sauce and some extremely good homemade lemonade.

After dinner the girls went back up the mountain and I came back to the hotel. So, I would say today was a success.

Tomorrow I need to go back down to the bank and open an account. I couldn't do this today because they needed a copy of my passport (which I took care of at the school) as well as a letter of my employment, which I also got at the school. So, tomorrow Rodrigo is picking me up again at 10 am and we are going down there to take care of that. After running to the bank he is bringing me back to the hotel where I will grab all my stuff and we will then head up to my new home. Pictures will be coming. I am working on getting some up of the hotel as well as an overview shot from my hotel of Gracias.

Anyway, with me having internet at my new home I will hopefully be able to blog regularly as well as stay in touch with most of you. Feel free to drop me an email or leave a comment below!

So until next time, take care!

New Home...Gracias, Honduras