Stuff I´ve found, and killed, in my house

This was my first scorpion sighting, chilling in the bathroom. Please disregard my dirty floor. It looks worse than it really is, I swear.

Spider.

The ubiquitous cucaracha.

Wasp.

CAN YOU BELIEVE HOW HUGE THIS IS?!?! It was literally the size of my hand, or bigger. Thank God my neighbor was at the house to kill it with a flipflop. IT WAS HUGE!!!!

Kittens!

My neighbor/best bud in the world visited her sister in Las Vegas (the Honduran version) and brought me back KITTENS! As you all remember, I lived in Santa Lucía with a wonderful family and their wonderful kittens, which I think contributed to the wonderfulness of my first month in country. These new kittens I think have really raised my quality of living. They may be scratching up my clothes and ruining my curtains and peeing in every corner of the house... but they´re still awesome!

This was taken the first day I got them... they were a little freaked out in the beginning but they soon made themselves right at home. I named the brown one Sasha and the orange one Zarca (Honduran for fair-skinned)

My little neighborhood playmates wanted a picture of Sasha in front of the lion cub puzzle they put together.

Here they are, about to rip my tablecloth to shreds. Notice the destructive look in their adorable little eyes.

I´m bustin outta here!

This picture I took yesterday, two weeks after getting them. See how much bigger (namely FATTER) they are? They´ve moved on from the tablcloth and have taken to ripping up my agenda. SO CUTE!

Exciting news????

Things rarely change in San José, something I realize more the longer I stay here. I’ve been in country for almost 16 months and occurrences that were once strange and interesting are now commonplace. So I feel like I really don’t have much news to share. That said, I also feel like the blog is in need of a June entry, so I give you a few random bits of my life and times in Honduras. Being here all the time I find these things kind of humdrum, but maybe you’ll be amused.

Two of the three puppies have died. Timon died overnight after a suspected parasite; Osito (little bear) was playing with a little kid and was smacked hard in the head and died from the blow. Pumba is the last one standing. I’ll try to take lots of pictures of her so that she’ll live on in photos in case she kicks the bucket too. Poor puppies.

My business simulation in the high school is a once-a-week trip to Dante’s inferno. I might as well be teaching business to kindergarteners by the way these kids behave in class, and I feel like expelling about half of them though it’s really beyond my authority to do so. We will see how the actual simulation goes (the sales day when they actually sell their product). Until then I am counting down the weeks, days, hours and minutes until this activity is over. After which I do not want to be anywhere near a high school for as long as I live, unless it’s to vote or to participate in a bake sale or silent auction or some such thing.

My dear friend Mel Ciolek came for a week of amazing times in my site and in CEIBA, home of Central America’s largest carnaval. It was no Río de Janeiro, but I think it could have rivaled Mardi Gras in terms of music, number of people and countless opportunities to get beads. There are three Peace Corps Volunteers in this amazing beach town, and I can only imagine what their two years are like in comparison to my life in teeny tiny-but-adorable San José. I was so glad Mel came, and am so grateful for her friendship as well as her amazing photos since I failed to take one lone picture of her visit with my camera. Thanks for coming, Mel, and I only hope your visit will set a shining example to all my other friends and family members who have yet to come see me.

The municipality is being audited for the first time in 6 YEARS, so you can imagine how much work these employees have to do. Since the team of auditors arrived in mid-May they have been working with the employees every day (including weekends) until as late as 11pm or midnight. I’ve been helping the treasurer with data entry because I feel sorry for her more than anything else. I feel for these guys… on a positive note the visit resulted in an office ROMANCE between a 25-yr-old auditor and the 20-year-old head of property zoning. Apparently the two are deeply in love and these auditors are taking the kid with them to their next job for about 15 days. Call me cynical but… come on now.

Finally, Honduras has been kicking my butt lately and I feel terrible about all the time due to intestinal problems and a cold and other irritating conditions that are not serious enough for me to go to the hospital for. Additionally, since I get really no vitamins from my diet, my body´s defenses are weak as little kittens and any disease can waltz right into me with little effort. I think I will speak to the medical office about this. What ever happened to "Whatever doesn´t kill you makes you stronger????"

Amused??????? I hope so! Will write again soon.