Unexpected Surprises

I can't exactly remember where I left off, I suppose I could check but I'm to lazy. Did I mention when I went walking on the peer with Nelson and Denia, and a Honduran guy asked me to marry him and when I ignored him, he jumped in the ocean and swam along side it? Nelson and Denia got a kick out of it. Then when he left it was just my luck to see him walking randomly down the street again about 2 hours later. That was fun. It's been quite the week. Right now I'm relaxing at Guapos restuarant with the breeze blowing on possibly the most beautiful day I've seen since I've been here, listening to some Tracy Chapman. The sun was shining right onto the normally gray Caribbean water and turned it a light shade of aqua blue and the whole thing is simply beautiful. I'm alone which is rare, just sipping a coke and reflecting.

Zoe, a new volunteer from England arrived on Monday so I spent a few days showing her around. It has been a very laid back time at the hogar. We did two english classes and tried to get some arts and crafts together to fill time and keep the kids busy. I think sometimes Zoey and I enjoy the crafts more than the kids. On Wednesday I was contemplating going to bed and then decided I should probably check my email. Cristy had sent me an email telling me that the next day, 6 new people were coming to stay at the house. Surprise! I looked over at Zoe and told her and we both spent the next hour and a half cleaning, straitening up etc. The house actually looked pretty good when we were done. In the evening the new volunteers arrived. They are from the states, and a little older, but it's kinda nice to have a full house. They're just here for a week and are helping with the new construction site. Cristy had come with them to get them all settled and we got to talking, and she informed me kind of casually that we are moving houses. I kind of did a double take. This was starting to feel like 'home'! When I asked when, she said sometime next week! Surprise #2! The new house is going to be in a completely different neighborhood which is closer to the hogar and more secure. It's also closer to the Congrehal river. It has seven rooms so its bigger as well. At first I was pretty bummed because I like being basically in the center of the city but the more I think about it the better I think it will be. So now it's just time to get ready for the move. (An ice cream man just showed up so I can add eating delicious ice cream to my surprise list). Anyways, later that night Zoe went out to buy some groceries and when she came back she opened with "you'll never  believe what I just saw!". She told me she saw a truck full of camels and zebras and deer etc. At first I thought she was kidding, and then she added that after that came huge trucks stacked with cages and in each cage was a lion or tiger and she was right there and this caravan of animals just randomly passed her on the street. How cool would that have been?! Anyways, what it means is that the Circus is in town!! Needless to say I believe we shall hopefully be taking some of the kids to enjoy! I'm excited for sure. Surprise #3.

This weekend I had to make a choice. Denya had invited me to go to her cousins quinceniera in Tela, about an hour away, on Saturday night. Unfortunately, Saturday was also the night of the Hogar end of the month/ birthday celebration. In the end I decided to go with Denya and her family because it was something new and different and I'm really glad I did, but still feel bad for missing the fiesta. I helped Danelia make balloon decorations the night before which was fun. I'm so glad that I get along now better with Danelia. She is the director of the hogar and when I first arrived I was so intimidated by her. I still am a little bit because it's hard to tell sometimes if she's angry at you or not, but I think she approves of me now. She does such an amazing amount of work every day and I respect her so much for it. I think raising 22 kids makes her have the somewhat strict countenance that she does, which is obviously understandable. It was hard though to tell her I wasn't coming to the fiesta because I do want her approval. On Saturday morning, Glenda came to get me at the volunteer house and we went to meet Denia, Nelson and the three little one's, Daniela, Carlitos and Sylvia at the bus terminal. The seven of us hopped onto a bus for Tela and off we went. I didn't get to see all that much of Tela itself because where we were headed was a little community called La Esperanza which is inland down a dirt road. From what I did see though, it will definitely be worth a return trip to take in some beach. We got to their cousins house at about noon. The people of La Esperanza are much like those of La Herradura (the jungle) in Ceiba; poor. It was very pretty back in the town though. There are a few main streets, and it is more like a town mainly because the land is flatter and houses are closer together. There are a few main blocks of houses that the people told me were built by a Canadian group and really helped to turn the squater settlement into and actual town. From there the  houses spread out, and the uncles houses was more at the edge. It was maybe half the size of Geny's house, with the kitchen located in a small overhang area outside.The soccer field however was right next door, so it didn't take long for us to put down our bags and head up to play a little futbol. The field was all this type of red, damp clay so after about half an hour we were all filthy. The kids from the town came up to and I got to meet a multitude of cousins.  The girls took to me immediately and after soccer we just had fun walking around and talking and laughing. Glenda made a delicious lunch (all of her food is soooo good) and as always gave me a portion way bigger than she should have. After, we went on a short walk and I had no idea where we were going until I saw a few crosses in the grass. We were at the grave yard, and they led me to a certain cross and slighly marked area. Denya, Paola, Geny and Paco's mother was buried there. I truly can't imagine loosing my mother. Denya was slightly out of sorts the whole time, and I think that might have been why. Being so close to her mother brings back all the loss that she tries to bury. After clearing the grave site off we headed back and I spent a little time relaxing in the hammock and playing with Carlitos, the cutest chubby four year old, and then washed up for the fiesta. We all headed out at five to the house where it was. The decorations were gorgeous! They did so much. The family had cut palm fronds and made an arch to walk through. There were two rows of tables with little pink balloon centerpieces, a balloon arch at the end and then the DJ's area with some big speakers. Denia brought me to meet the birthday girl and she looked absolutely beautiful. She was just putting on her make up and I was worried that it was kind of akward to bring a perfect stranger in, but when she finished she stood up and smiled and said 'Kyla!' and gave me the biggest hug like she had known me for ages. That's how it was all night. The family all knew who I was and I was greeted with nothing but smiles and in a way I truly feel like I've found another family and been accepted into theirs. Brenda (the birthday girl!) had a pink dress on with a full skirt, hair perfectly curled and tied up and makeup done beautifully. She insisted right away to take a picture with me. She's so sweet and she's coming to live with Geny's family this week to study at the colegio!

At about seven everyone went to the Catholic church for the service. I had never been to a quinceniera before so it was fun to watch the senoritas (my new girl friends from earlier) all dressed up and walking down the aisle, followed by Brenda. The pastor talked for quite awhile and then we went back to the house to eat and dance. The food was delicious and everyone kept asking me if I was going to dance. Well, I never was really sure, and I wasn't on the dance floor as much as I expected. Mainly because my immediate family (Denya, Glenda, Nelson etc) didn't want to dance and it was for sure different. First of all there was probably a 3:1 guy to girl ratio and I didn't really want to dance with anyone I didn't know. Not that I wasn't asked enough. I was definitely a show piece for the town. Probably 10 different guys asked me to dance, some of them way too persistently. There was one guy who was quite drunk and about every 5 minutes he would come up to me and ask again. They really don't know the word no. But I wasn't overly bothered. It was mostly amusing and verged into annoying only a few times. I did get pulled out to dance three or four times but quickly returned. It didn't help that I didn't know the music, but it was still a good time. I mostly watched as the few couples did the punta, which is a Honduran dance, and talked to Nelson about girl troubles. At about one o'clock Denya and I went to bed. They gave us what I'm pretty sure is the nicest bed in the house and we eventually fell asleep. There was some interesting occurances with one of the drunk guys trying to find the blond girl, but I was never really worried. They would never let anything happen to me. In the morning we got up, got ready, I was again fed too much, and waited for a ride to take us down to Tela to grab the bus. During that time I just was thinking. There is such an amazing sense of family here. Families stay together, or when they are separated almost everyone goes to, for example, a cousin's quinceniera. If one of them needs help, another steps in, even if they themselves are in the middle of hard times, as they almost always are. Everyone can point out cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents and proudly introduce them when you pass. To know all of one's family is almost to become part of it. It made me think what a challenge it must be for the hogar kids, which such an emphasis on blood relationships here, to live as they do, or for anyone without the support of their family. It is important in the states but I don 't think the states are anything compared to here. In a way, what else do these people have? Their family is there lifeblood, so of course they stick together. A taxi ride and bus ride later, we arrived in Ceiba and one of the uncles was waiting with his motor bike and offered to take me home. I figured why not, first time on a motorcycle sounds good, so we went zooming through the streets and now I am here, writing on the beach because it was to beautiful day to let pass by. The little surprsies are the best.