Please don´t stop the music

Every time I leave Esquipulas, a place I am now able to consider home, I come back feeling more confident in my Spanish. Leaving forces me just over my line of comfort to talk to talk to new people and I realize how able I am here.

But before I left, I was gifted with the presence of KP and Jen, two friends from csb sju. Jen works in a aldega of 600 in Honduras as a peace corps volunteer. She is working on agriculture and latrines and has a very different life than me. Showers in the sink, in by 6, and no one to speak English to. While speaking with her, I have realized how fortunate I am to be a male here. Traveleing is safer, the opposite sex doesn´t make advances (sometimes a disappointment, but overall for the better), and men (who she works with) are much more inclined to listen to and belive you. But perhaps most important is how I feel- safer.
KP one of my good friends was also able to come and visit from MN. She understands the culture and the people here more than most people I have talked to about C.A. With Phil and Jen, we went to the City of Joy. An orphanage that I will talk more about later. We played with the kids, and they loved the new visitors. Definately had the best games of go fish I´ve played and I learned how to make oragami frogs.

We parted ways with Jen and went to Antigua for the weekend. There was a procession. It was rediculously long. They started at 3 and went until 8 or so- while carrying and life-sized scene of Jesus carrying the cross.

Molly Roske is near Antigua and was able to spend a good deal of time with us. I realize I miss her more than I thought. She is also in the peace corps and will be working on eco tourism. Neat. Phil and I have been wanted to make a playground for the City of Joy and she gave me a contact who knows how to build playgrounds out of old tires-so stoked! And I was able to take a picture of her wearing the native dress-Smile for the camera and say-Blackmail!
Quick highlights from the b-day spectaculor.
- Popping pull party fireworks in hotels
- Taking a shot with a monk
-Getting blackmail material
-Sleeping in
- Seeing good people who care about more than themselves and being able to talk with them about where our lives are heading
-realizing BVC was a good program for me, I have questioned if peace corps would have been good, but I am happy where I am at, and PC seems like more rules, longer, and more difficult
-a newfound desire to learn idioms
-having a conversation about contraception with a cab driver
-Some woman made a noise (a high pitched whine) for go this way. The first woman I heard make this noise- well I thought she was crazy.
-Pumping out please don´t stop the music all weekend
-This comic- it makes me laugh.