didn't i tell you i was indecisive?

So I've been making plans and changing them, again. Jose is getting very tired of this. :)

We had to change the wedding plans. Instead of having a destination wedding in the Bay Islands here in Honduras, we are having 2 weddings: one in Honduras, and one in KY. Why are we changing the plans? It's a reallllly long story. But in the end, this is better because now ALL of our friends and family will be able to share in our special day(s). :)

The Honduras wedding is a civil ceremony only, on 11/29/08. Here in Honduras couples often have two weddings (a civil and a religious) so it's not too strange for us to do a civil wedding here. It's going to be in what I call the "hotel district" in a charming part of downtown Tegucigalpa, in the Hotel Plaza San Martin. There will be a short ceremony with the lawyer, dinner, and dancing.

The KY wedding is the religious wedding on 12/20/08 in the KY Building on WKU's campus (Jose and I met on campus 4 years ago!). Ever since I was a little girl I've been dreaming of a Christmas wedding, and now I get to have one! However, since Jose is Catholic and I am Baptist, we aren't getting married in a church. :) Being married outside of the church is going to allow us to combine our favorite traditions from both religions for our ceremony. We are also combining 2 languages with a translator. This should be a very different and very interesting wedding ceremony. :)

And remember a while back when I announced that I was working as the Coordinator for the Academia Europea? Umm, that changed too. :) To make a long story short, I didn't get the job because I decided to stay in KY a week longer than originally planned. I know it wasn't responsible, but I think it happened for a reason. Since I've been unemployed for several weeks now, I have had time to plan 2 weddings (which, trust me, is a full time job). And while planning those weddings, I came across an excellent business idea. I've decided to open a store designing/creating/selling invitations. While planning my own weddings, I realized how much I enjoy it and that I'm not that bad at creating the invitations. :) And everyone that has seen my work says the same thing. Soo, HB Designs will be opening in January when Jose and I come back from our wedding/Christmas vacation in KY.

Hopefully, these plans won't change! :)

we finally found an apartment!

It hasn't been easy. Rent here is more expensive than rent in Bowling Green, KY. I really don't know how families afford to live in safe neighborhoods here when the minimum wage is $150/month!!!

We were driving around my favorite neighborhood in the city and stumbled upon an apartment building that was still under construction. It turns out that Jose's dad knows the owner, and he was willing to give us a fantastic deal on a 2 bedroom apartment...with a view!!

It's not completely finished yet, so we have to wait a couple of weeks. But the owner is letting us paint and letting Jose's dad rearrange the very awkward layout of the kitchen.

Finally...our own place!! :)

This gringa needs a ....

pharmacist that knows more about medicine than me!!

This is the way the pharmacies here work:
You don't need a prescription for most medications here.
You get sick. You go to the pharmacy, not the doctor, and tell them what your symptoms are. (Unless it's something serious, of course, then you go to the doctor. If it's just a cold, sinus infection, etc, you go straight to the pharmacy.) They then sell you the medicine that they think you need.

For the last couple of days I've been experiencing runny nose, headache, and cough. This morning I self-diagnosed myself as having allergic rhinitis. I took some pseudophedrine, but also needed an expectorant for my annoying dry cough. I walked to the pharmacy down the street to buy some. According to Jose's parents, it's the best pharmacy in the city. I went prepared. I wrote down the name of what I wanted, the ingredients, possible brand names, and even looked up the names of the ingredients in Spanish before I went.

When I told them what I wanted, they didn't know what I was talking about. I had to walk behind the counters and pick out what I needed myself.

I also had to correct them twice:

1. At one point they told me I should be taking X medicine. I asked them if it could interact with anything else that I might be taking, and they said NO. This was just a test because I knew before asking that it CAN interact with my anxiety medicine and I shouldn't take any medicines with that particular ingredient.

2. I thought while I was there I would check on the price of my anxiety medication (before my supply runs out in a couple of weeks). I argued with the pharmacist over this as well. He wouldn't believe what I was saying about it until I asked for his "drug book," as he called it. I had to look up the medicines and show him what I was talking about.

After I corrected him the second time, he said, "Oh you are very smart, you should come work here!"

This is the second time a pharmacist in Tegucigalpa has told me this. I'm thinking about opening up a pharmacy.