The spill.

This lovely tale starts back in Guatemala when a friend from traveling decided she was no longer backpacking but rather joining a group of boys bicycling to South America. She needed to lighten her load so she generously added to mine. She gave me some kind of organic face product that comes in a black jar and looks something like iodine....I hadnt touched the stuff until about 4 weeks later when out of boredom in Honduras I figured if find out what kinda job it'd do for my skin.

A month later: The house that we are renting, as volunteers, is on the property of our landlords Roy and Dina. In the last two years they have built this house from the ground up. Unfortunately, because Roy has a lot of other construction projects going on, they have yet to completely finish everything.

Last week he had some guys working day in and day out. One of them was in charge of the plumbing and apparently did a shotty job. This was deduced at 5am when we were woken up by Roy yelling about a flood outside. Water was gushing from the floor above us and had left some pretty substantial spots on the drywall ceiling right above my bed. So Roy assessed the damage and told us he'd have the guys come in and replace the ceiling the next day. So I took all my stuff out of the room and put it in the hallway closet to avoid having drywall debris all over it.

So now I get dressed in the hallway out of a giant closet. Which isnt a problem except for another side effect of living in a construction zone. The light in the room doesnt stay on. You push it, walk away, get about 5 paces and it goes off. So you do this about 5 or 10 times and you might get lucky and itll stay on.

One morning I encountered this situation and didnt have the patience to keep trying the light. So I thought, screw it. Ill just get dressed in the dark. Well my fumbly hands came in contact with the not fully sealed bottle of brown liquid face stuff which then went tumbling, open, onto the shelf below me...on top of my roommates clothes. Lovely. I freak out and while she is still sleeping haul the 3 pieces of stained clothing into the kitchen to start scrubbing..and planning what the hell to tell her when she realizes what i've done.

She wasnt too visibly upset and i managed to scrub it out of the clothes that I saw stains on. Well then she starts investigating her clothing piles and realizing its on FAR MORE than just the 3 shirts I initally saw the stains on! There are spots on at least ten items of clothing. Jesus Christ!

So I feel horrible. This particular roommate has up to this point been very generous with her personal items. We have internet here but i dont have a computer so shes let me use hers on many occasions. So i'm freaking out but im relieved when i managed to get at least those 3 shirts clean for now. I go and hang them out on the line which is dirty so taking special care, I wipe the line to avoid getting the now clean shirts dirty again. Clip them into place to avoid the Honduran winds blowing them away... and retire for the night proud of my monumental save after such an embarrassing accident.

Until the next day when the roommate 1 (owner of the ruined clothes) goes out for awhile and my other roommate goes out to take some of her stuff off the line. I figure I should go check roommate 1's clothes. While were out there Roommate 2 says "whats this?" and goes to pick up what looks like an old dishrag off the ground. This thing had its ass kicked by one of Roy and Dinas big dogs, Rex. I mean he really had a ball with this dish rag...or so I thought... until I realized it was one of Roommate1's shirts that blew off the line!!

So now ive stained half her working wardrobe for her 4 month stay here AND i've thrown one to the dogs. So..what do you think, worst roommate ever?

Sitting in Traffic

I was staying in the city for a few weeks with Dennis and we ended up borrowing his moms like 15 year old BMW to go to the beach a couple hours away. The drive down was uneventful. The drive home was a real trip!

We left mid-day on sunday and it was HOT. Like, make you cranky, want to strip down in public hot. And there is no such thing as air conditioner in this car. It was so hot that we ended up pulling over, turning around, and driving up to a random lady on the street with a hose and asking her to hose us down. Thankfully, she did.

So at some point the temperature gage was going a little crazy, we assumed so because of the heat. So we pulled over, poured some water in the engine at a gas station, ate some nachos and hopped back in to finish the drive home.

Not two minutes later, the gage goes all the way up and lights up. Great. So we pull over again and sit in the car for an hour ana half waiting for it to regroup. Thankfully, it was still daytime and we had some vodka in the car ;)

So after that we get going again and the gage is STILL going crazy. So we pull over again. Were starting to think this trip is never going to end. Some random highway worker has to come rescue us with some more water and its dark before we actually get on the road.

Thankfully we did end up getting home in one piece and in enough time that I could pack up my bags as I was heading out the next morning. Im not sure whats going on here but every time I hang out in the city, something ridiculous happens to me...

Fruity

Just so you're all well aware how awesome life is here...
My roommates in san pedro and I went to the market to buy groceries. Its an outdoor market where you can haggle at all the stalls for whatever you want to buy. We bought a watermelon, cantelope, two pineapples, a papaya, 3 mangos, 14 bananas...for the equivalent of about 4 or 5 USD.
Color me happy :)

My Calling

The main factor that separates me from my friends here is the opportunities I was given as a first world citizen, and I believe it is my responsibility to work so that these opportunities are available to all.

I am waiting to hear from UW to know if I got into graduate school and I will know by April first. I understand that applying to just one school was risky on my end...so I am in the market for a backup plan.

After Costa Rica a friend suggested we teach English abroad after getting TEFL certified. The idea sounded cool..but I wasnt completely sold. When I was studying spanish in San Pedro a few weeks ago, I spent an hour after class teaching English to my Spanish teachers. It was one of the highlights of my experience in San Pedro. So now while I am in limbo between traveling and going home to either go to school or get a job, I find myself entertaining the idea of moving abroad for a year and teaching English. I dont doubt that id be good at it...

Hm, lets see where this road takes me. Stay in guatemala? Somewhere new like Puerto Rico? Or maybe back to my first love, Turkey?

Half the Sky

¨...few factors that CAN affect our happiness levels in a sustained way. One is a connection to something larger...a greater cause or a humanitarian purpose. Traditionally, this was what brought people to churches or other religious institutions, but any movement or humanitarian initiative can provide a sense of purpose that boosts ones happiness quotient. We are neurologically constructed so that we gain huge personal dividends from altruism.¨

Recently I read the book Half The Sky and it is a recommened read, especially for other women my age who care at all about the greater good. The book researches the role of woman throughout the world and details problems women encounter like maternal health, genital mutilation, honor killings, abuse, sex trafficking and general lack of purpose in many places in the world. Each woman has a story that proves that being born into an awful life doesnt necessarily mean you will be unproductive in the world forever. It stresses the significance of education in the lives of women and children and how the result of this education can be a greater world economy with a more productive workforce, less disease and illness, population control, etc.

Its a really powerful book and it introduces several inspiring women who have risen from terribly grim life situations to become powerful, productive women in society. Many of these women now run international aid organizations as well as highly effective community organizations.

It left me feeling like I have so many options in the world. I can do whatever I want to do with my life. I have traveled quite a bit and opened myself up to letting the world change me. Next I think ill need to start changing the world :)