Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Door Monsters

Our house is cursed. Haunted. Possessed.

It has my poor Charlie shaking and trembling. He has been hiding under my desk and trying to crawl in my lap all afternoon.



It's the ....


DOOR MONSTERS.

They enter our house on windy days through the open windows and slam the doors shut. Evil things.

I wish they would stop terrorizing poor Charles.

Monday, November 16, 2009

you should be proud of me...

I accomplished something major today. Something that I haven't been able to do for the last 1.5 years of living here.

I ordered a pizza all by myself.

That's right! Aren't you proud? What's that? No? You don't think that's a big deal?

Oh but it is. It really really is.

You see, ordering a pizza here requires speaking Spanish. Duh. But ordering it isn't the most difficult part. It's giving the directions. And when you live in Tegucigalpa and there are no street names (and if there are, who knows what they are because there are no signs), giving directions is quite a task. In the US, you tell the pizza guy "I live at 123 Mulberry Drive." In Honduras, directions usually go something like this: "I live in X neighborhood. Do you know where the Esso (gas station) in that neighborhood is? Ok, from there turn right, and then take the 3rd right, and then the 1st left. And then turn by the old movie theater. You know, the one they tore down 10 years ago. Then my house is on the right. The one with the wall. And the barbed wire. It's beige/yellow/white. Oh wait, all the houses here look like that. So, stop and ask the guard at the gate to the neighborhood, and he'll tell you the wrong way so you can end up lost. So, you know what? I'll meet you at the Esso and pick up the pizza there."

Okay, okay...maybe that's a bit dramatic. But it really is quite a task. Especially when you don't speak Spanish all that great.

So tonight I was realllly craving a pineapple pizza from Il Padrino. But Jose is out of town for work. I'm a little ashamed to say I called him and asked him to order me a pizza...from San Pedro Sula (a city 5 hours from here!). But he said no and told me it was time for me to do it myself. I said no way, and sent him a message telling him I hated him for making me order my own pizza. HAHA. I even contemplated calling my friend to order it for me.

But I decided to try it. What can it hurt? I thought. These people can't see me through the phone. If I sound like an idiot, I'll just hang up and eat a sandwich. ;)

So I took a deep breath. And I called. And I ordered. And I gave the directions. ALL BY MYSELF. Easy peasy.

And now I'm waiting for it to get here.

I guess the true test to my direction-giving skills will be whether or not the pizza guy shows up. :)

Sunday, November 1, 2009

How YOU can help "the little country that could"

I have been upset the last few weeks knowing that I can't vote in this historic Honduran presidential election coming up on November 29. HeLlooOO...I'm living in this country and I want my voice heard. But I can't vote since I'm not a citizen. Que triste! :(


Then La Gringa posted information on her blog about being an election observer!


You can read all about how to do it on her blog here.


I read all of the official application documents that she posted. My thoughts? Oohh, we get a security badge? That's so CSI, so Law & Order, so SWAT.... I'm in!!!


I honestly thought that, but I really want to do it because this is the BEST way for my voice to be heard.

Hello, CNN, I am tired of you telling the wrong side of the story and manipulating the US population.

Forget voting! Now I can participate in an even better way.

And if I can get away from work to actually do it, I will so be blogging about the experience and telling the world the truth. (Okay, maybe not the world, maybe just my few hundred readers. But every little bit counts, right?)

If you are an expat living in Tegucigalpa, or if you want to travel here for the elections.....come with me to be an election observer! Pllllleeeeaase? I don't want to do it alone. :)