My First Week!

Hi! So we got to the country about noon (Chicago time) so it was about 11am here.  We then had to wait for the bus, which came at 2pm.  We did, however, meet some other Americans while we were waiting, one guy came down by himself and was going to volunteer at an Orphanage somewhere in Honduras, so if you think we're crazy, he is insane, especially because he didn't know Spanish.  We took a bus from the airport into the main city, San Pedro Sula, where we transfered buses to come to Coapn, that's when the kid went a different way, soooo hopefully he's still livinggggg.   The bus ride wasn't bad at all, probably because as soon as we sat down, I fell asleep (shocking, I know).  When I awoke, with all my limbs and belongings, we were close to Coapn Ruinas.  It was GORGEOUS, kinda like my face, but in a "natur-y" way.  So we pull into town, but the main road to the bus station was washed out or there were cows in the way or something, so we couldn't get by.  So we went into town to get through.  Now, after walking through town and being here a week, I still can't believe they tried to maneuver that.  The streets are all the size of like one-way streets, barely enough room for 2 cars to pass by each other.  In case you haven't seen the pictures on facebook, I'll try and get them on here, I just don't really know how yet, we live in the mountains.  Not like at the bottom in a valley, but literally in the mountains, they put the town of Copan Ruinas smack onto the mountain side.  So not only are we going to come back with "jacked" calves and leg muscles, cars/tour buses, like we were on, have to try and go almost 180 degrees up the roads.  Weeelllll, it was raining, so we couldn't get up one road, the bus physically could not get enough juice to get up the hill.  So we backed up and tried another.  Ok, so we got into town at about 6pm, and now it's like 7pm and we're still trying to get to the bus depot, where, mind you, our ride is waiting for us.  (To put a time frame on this, we can walk from one end of town to the other in probablllyyyy half-hour to 45 minutes).  So it's about 7:30 and the bus driver comes on and tells us (in Spanish so Mandy had no idea what he was saying) to get off the bus, it can't get up the hill, and we were to get out in the middle of town.  Sooooo we get off, a little freaked out  because we have no way to get ahold of Cathy, the primary school director coming to pick us up.  However, while waiting for our luggage to be taken off, a white lady comes up behind us and asks if we're Polly & Mandy, the sigh of relief we had was huge that the Hondurans even know we were panic-ing haha.  So she takes us to our apartment, a littlllleee different than we saw from pictures of the other American teachers here in town, so it was a little disappointing, but now we've come to love our little apartment because our kitchen is huge with cabinet space, that not many other teachers have!  So we meet a few other teachers above us, and they feed us because we hadn't eaten since like noon, at Wendy's in the airport, which I might say was delicioussssss.  I had my first taste of rice & beans here and they were amazing!  Then again, I'll pretttyyy mucchhhh eat anything.  So we then come back down to unpack and take it all in.  So then starts the week, teacher orientation.  It was pretty low-key, nothing too exciting happening.  The other 5th grade teacher is awesome though, low-key like me, very mellow, so we'll get along great.  I love "Honduran Time" because it's basically like "Polly Time" in the states.  No one is ever on time.....for anything, so obviously I fit in perfect.  The other teachers are great, everyones super nice, we hung out with them Friday and Saturday night.  Saturday night, we had a big potluck dinner, which I loved!  Our new friends Love & Ashley came over to cook chicken with us.....and by us I mean, they cooked and I watched, why mess up food when we have to feed like 15 people.  Also, luckily, the girls upstairs, hosted so I didn't even have to put shoes on!  We've been inside alot with school, so my goal of looking like a Honduran when I come home for Christmas is failingggggg.  I have, in only a week, gotten back in my Spanish speaking mode, so I'm really happy about that.  Other silly things we've come across....A lady in the office at school was telling us about "winter".  She said the kids will come in hats & gloves, all bundled up, so I asked well what does it get down to?.....ooooo like 50 degrees......I pretty much laughed in her face because I still am wearing shorts in 50 degree weather.  I guess it'll be chilly at night and when we get to school, but then it'll get warmer.  I will definately be taking pictures of all the bundled up children.  Another experience will be hand washing our clothes.  Notttt too excited about that, but I guess I have to be clean.  Also, while walking home one evening, there was a house that was blaring Lady Gaga Poker Face…in English, they love them some Gaga…..and the Black Eyed Peas.  And, I know all of you were wondering, but The Biebs is not cool here amongst the little kids.  A fourth grader saw my board and asked if I liked Justin Bieber and I said he is an amazing artist, and she made a face, so I asked if she did, and she said no, he's not cool. Sooooo that's the same as the states.  So far, knock on wood, the food has been spectacular! Probably because I haven't had to make anything more than pouring cereal or pbj (which my sandwhices are awesome I might add).  Our "landlords", they're the parents of one of the administrators or teachers, I can't remember.  They are awesome! They're an old couple and their son and his family live down here too.  It's really nice and we feel really safe....especially because theres a huge dog that always barks down here, but he's a nice dog.  Ok, I can't remember anything else funny that happened, I think you can ask me questions on here? I don't knowwwwww....but you can call us 847-454-7622, it's the magic jack, so it's hooked up to the internet!  I'll write mas another day!  Miss you all!  Come visit, it's cheap to travel here and everything is relatively inexpensive! Ok bye!