I Finally Have Water!

Well, I should clarify and say that I can finally control some of the water access in my apartment. For the last two months I’ve had water in my apartment every two days for just a half a day and rather than being able to just turn on the tap when I wanted water, none of the taps worked so one of them I had shut off and the other, the one in the bathroom, just shot out water every time the water came on. For the entire time. The kitchen also flooded every other day from a combination of the broken sink and all the rain and since my shower doesn’t work I’m still bathing out of a bucket. I know the flooding is a huge waste of water and kept trying to get the landlord to fix it, but things move at their own pace here and it was just finally fixed yesterday. The landlord came in, new faucet in hand, with the announcement that he was going to replace the faucet in the bathroom so it would actually work. After playing around with it for a while he announced that it didn’t fit and was going to keep trying, but the next time I turned around, he was gone and there was a huge gaping hole in my sink. No faucet. I began to worry about how much my bathroom would flood now that there wasn’t even a faucet to control the flow when finally, a few hours later, he came back with a shiny new faucet that is now in my sink and works like a charm. So far, with only day with water behind me, everything works. The water that comes out is brown with chunks of dirt and other debris and since that’s what I’m bathing with it may have been an extremely long time since I’ve actually been clean, but at least I can sometimes get water out of my sink by request, so I can’t complain. By the way, just so you can get a good mental image of my beautiful bathroom, it’s hot pink. That was somehow a result of Heather and Marisa visiting although I’m not quite sure how it happened. I get asked about “La Disco” by some of my friends when I see them on the street and they wonder why there is no disco ball in my baño.

Along with my apartment, my work is finally coming along as well. I’ve started the girls group here in Ocotepeque and meet with 10 seventh graders once a week. So far I really like working with them and they’re all really good kids. I’m looking forward to getting to know them a lot better and to be able to serve as a role model or older sister to them (although at only 23 I’m only a year or two younger than some of their mothers). Kids here, but girls especially, have so few opportunities I just can’t imagine what they would think if they saw all the opportunities for extracurricular activities I had growing up. Even though this course only lasts through mid-December, I’m hoping to continue meeting with them once a month throughout my service and to be a resource for them anytime they want to talk.

As per someone’s request for more photos and less text and with some stateside help, some pictures will be coming soon. Much sooner than when promised the last time.