¡¡Tear Gas!!

I haven't been able to post about this yet, but it's a pretty nuts story so brace yourself...

Our third day in Honduras. We have a 2 week orientation class before everything starts and last week for part of it we took a little field trip to the hospital (very funny because evryone stares at big groups of gringos).
Oh, also you need to know that there is a huelga (strike) that is happening in Honduras right now. ALL of the public school professors and teachers stopped teaching until the goverment pays them the money that was promised them. So basically every day there are hundreds of shouting Hondurans outside of our school in protest. When we went on our little field trip it was kind of at a climax in the protest. Bad timing to say the least haha. We had to cross themain highway in order to get to the hospital but it was filled with people. They had made a barrier of huge rocks to block cars and built fires in the middle of the biggest highway in the capital. Pretty much nuts. We were all just taking in the fact that there were fires built on the road when we heard super loud pops (kinda like gun shots but not exactly) and saw everyone running in our direction.
The police arrived and were shooting out tear gas canisters. The gas was pretty insane and spread really fast so our group, along with all of the protesters started booking it. Our group got seperated because one of the canisters went off right by us. I was in a group with 8 other students and the other 20 with our professor were in the other. We didnt know what to do but we knew that our school wasn't safe so we went to the mall. Tons of people rushed into the mall and used the fountain to wash their face from the gas. we hid in a store and the owners locked the doors. We then heard a lound sound and saw everyone evacuate the mall. We almost left but thought we would be safe in the back of the store. Not exactly. A grenade, or whatever the tear gas thigns are went off in the mall and then gas started to seep in under the door. the next part was like a movie no joke. We took off our shirts, got them wet and ran out through the gas. I got some in my eyes but it wasn't that bad. Some people in our group had it real bad. What happens is your throat feels like it's on fire and the only way to fix it is to breathe more, but the more you breathe the worse it gets. Your entire face lights up on fire and it burns inside and out. you cry and cry andsnots runs out of your nose. It was intense and kinda scary too. There is a video of the police running on the bottom. That was after we were safe and ran from them haha.

Later that day we all went back to our houses, but i didnt know the way. This led to me getting lost on my third day with my friend Ben in the pouring rain. We ended up going to his house and calling my family to get directions. My house is probably the size of my kitchen and half of the family room. I'll give more details later. I've written a lot so I should probably stop here. I miss real toilets.

°Trent

Day 2

I woke up today in a rush because my mom marie asked me to be up by 7 for breakfast and I slept in till 7:30. I rushed to get ready at what I thought was like 7:45 knowing I had to be at school by 8. My host brother was no where to be seen and there was no one around. I saw a Tupperware thing with some lunch in it and almost ate it thiking it was for me. Hahaha so I was off by an hour and so that’s why no one was here and I almost ate my host mom’s lunch she packd for work. I ate an awkward breakfast of beans, torillas, eggs and cheese that was super hard. It was weird because marie just stared at me while I ate and we didn’t really talk. I don’t think anything will weird me out when I get home. I’m walking to school in a little bit with My host bro who I cant even remember his name. I think it’s Rauen.

later...

Jk I think it’s Reuben because I saw him enter his name in a computer game as reubenchy. My family still hasn’t come up with a name for me yet but I’m going to ask them for one when we eat dinner. Honduras is pretty relaxed there is a lot of sitting around and standing. Today I walked to school with reuben. We passed by lots of extremely poor people and the dirtiest river I have ever seen. The water was dark brown and was surrounded with garbage. The walk took probly like 20 minutes. Orientation today was long and tiring. We got tours of the different buildings but it was incredibly crowded because apparently there is a strike happening at the university and all the teachers and students are there. There is wireless internet in the library and my house has a computer. When I walked home with reuben he asked if I wanted to go home or do something which I couldn’t understand. So I said cualaquier and we went to the mall and walked around in circles. I was very confused why were doing so and couldn’t understand anything he was saying because he spoke softly and it was very loud. We then proceeded to walk home and again I couldn’t understand anything because everyone in this country speaks in a soft mumble I swear haha. I have never felt so vulnerable/ stupid/ childildlike in my whole life. I’ve realized that my Spanish isn’t too bad, but my vocabulary is small. I don’t know wthe words for anything and then when they describe it to me they use other words I don’t know. I’ve been keeping a list of few vocb words so that I can hopefully learn a ton of them by writing them down. I’m super excited to figure out how everything works but for now I am confused. Also, I am the only one without a phone. I’m pretty sure it was stolen during our taxi ride. A local told me that pickpocketers can take your socks out of your shoes without you noticing. My family watches TV for like a million hours a day. It’s different but it helps me learn Spanish so I’m down. I still haven’t figured out how to send letters yet, but that is next on my list.

Estoy en Honduras!

Day 1 in Honduras

Today was one of the craziest days of my life. I’ve had the coolest, most awkward, and nerve racking experiences all in one day. To start, Last night I slept in Chris, greg and Juice’s house on my sweet couch then proceeded to wake up at 3:50 (1:50 honduran time) to go to the airport. Flighs went well but when we arrived customs didn't let phannie into Honduras because she didn’t have a visa and she was from Haiti. It was crazy. She ended up crossing through customs a couple hours after the group after Pablo got a note from the university.

We had a short meeting with our group as Pablo very sketchily told us what our evening was going to look like and then gave us our phones. I was picked up my my Host mom and she said a ton of stuff I didn’t understand and was like follow me. So I lugged my 2 huge 50 lb duffels up a couple flights of stairs as tons of Hondurans stared at me cause I’m the tallest person in this country. Then we found the jankiest taxi you could ever imagine that couldn't even fit my bags in the trunk but he said they wouldn’t fall out and we decided to trust him trunk a blazin wide open. The driving here is insane. I honestly thought I was going to lose my life probly like 10 times today. (Mari I would take your permit driving any day over this haha.) people take taxis everywhere. I rode in 3 taxis today. I came to my house and unpacked and met the daughter (Dasdne) in the family who is really cool and then gave my family their gifts. After a while talking which I thought I was comprehending they were like vamos, and I had no idea we were leaving. We went grocery shopping where I was introduced to about 10 new vegetables I didn’t know existed haha. Then we went out to dinner and I had the most amazing Honduran food ever. It was fantastico. We carried groceries a long way back to our house and now I’m chilling here. The house I’m staying in isn’t as nice as I had expected but I’m totally content and I know it will help me appreciate things back home more. The females are trying to come up with a nickname for me because no one else can pronounce my name. Oh, also I totally lost the phone we got today. No idea where it went I’m conviced that our taxi driver sniped it out of the box or I left it at the university.

It’s weird not knowing what anyting is called and asking people to repeat everything. I feel very dumb and frustrated. But, this family is super nice about everything and I cant wait for tomorrow. I love all of you back home!

Just kidding...NEW FAMILY!

Hey Family and friends!

So apparently the the family that was scheduled for me to be living with has now been changed. I checked my e-mail today and found my new family and thought I would post a picture of them. The mom's name is Doña Luisa and she has three children, two sons and one daughter. The oldest son is 22 and he is a police officer, the other is 19 and is a student. the daughter is 16 and is also a student. I'm way excited to live with people my own age! Basically I'll have some friends right off the bat which will be nice. I'm still living in the same building called Kennedy and there should be other Calvin students there too.

Today was my last day in the Junior High at Wooddale. I'm going to miss you all SO much. Thanks for the amazing summer I can't even begin to tell you how meaningful these past few months have been. I love you all.

Today also began my first day of packing haha. I've bought most things I needed already so now I just have to figure out what all to leave here. I'm getting really excited to leave but at the same time I wish I had more time at home. There are so many people I can't spend enough time with, and even more that I didn't have time for.  I'm going to miss you guys.  Summer is too short.

Well. T-minus 2 days. I'm getting excited!