Whatchu know about that

Oh its been awhile, but I don´t always feel like blogging because sometimes I just gotta live…ands not write haha. So I just finished my fourth week here in Honduras and now it´s time for the last week in Honduras. It´s been wonderful here and I know for a fact that it´s going to be really hard to leave. Being here for these last four weeks have felt like I´ve lived here for 5 years. I mean I have a job, even though I´m not making money. I have hobbies like playing basketball, learning how to ride motorcycles, and cutting hair. Yes, cutting hair! Everyday after work I go to this barber shop and help out by doing whatever. They teach me everyday some new things and since I´ve been around hair (My mom and Auntie are stylists), it has began to feel like home. Also I have friends that I hang out with, I go to church, and I even know the local spanish slang that helps me get by. The crazy thing about all of this to me is that it´s only been 4 weeks. I can´t believe that a life can set itself up in another place in such a short amount of time. I ask myself did I just get lucky with how great everybody is around here, or is it always like this for everybody that goes to another country for 5 weeks. Honestly though I think it´s a combination of luck and the good ol honeymoon phase. Maybe if I were stayin here longer I wouldn´t feel all cozy here, but whatever. So these past couple weeks I have been hanging out with friends, working oh so hard at work, and watching the bootleg movies from the streets of Honduras. At work this week I have been helping out with this program called program Deborah. This program tackles the issues of domestic violence. There was a group of gay and transexual people that came to our work to learn some skills/trades. There was also the people who work with us at Proyecto Aldea Global who were teaching things such as how to curl, straighten, and even cut hair. I was one of the ones teaching how to cut hair and it felt good being able to use some of my knowledge and skills to help out. Also another thing that has been weighing heavily on my mind is privelege and people taking things for granted. In Honduras a lot of things have begun to make me think about my life and others in America. In Honduras and even in Guatemala I really get to see first hand people who don´t have very much. When I say very much I mean, food is not to be wasted, but only saved, money is to be spent on the necesities such as food and water, and love and happiness is what everybody lives on down here. Happiness down here is not the same as happiness in the states. Maybe we could call it joy here in Honduras because joy doesn´t come from material things like shoes, or clothes, or video games, but it comes from something else. Joy comes from loving each other and being happy with what you got not because it´s pretty or because it makes you feel good, or because it makes you stick out above everybody else, but because you can share it with others and see their joy and it´s just enough to get by. I think back to the states and think about my friends who collect hundreds of Jordan´s, go to fast food restaurants and buy more than they can eat, or who go shopping and spend hundreds of dollars on new cell phones or new clothes, and then I think about the people here in Honduras. In the states we complain about wanting more, the nicer prettier things, and all of the latest and coolest stuff, while everybody down here buys our used things. They have brick homes, no heat, but a home. They live in houses smaller than ours, but with twice the amount of people. Their extended family is valued much more and they live together as a family. In the states sometimes we cannot wait to leave the house when we´re 18 or after college. Here they have enough food to offer their guests, but not always for themselves. They have enough time to spend time with you after long hours of work. They never complain about not having access to a good education, clean water, and about the small amount of money they make. They enjoy what they have, because they have enough to get by and they share it with each other. The people here are not distracted with video games, or material things, but they are instead focused on their family, their joy, and their love for other people. I really admire this about people here and I hope that I can really learn to never take things for granted and always remember what privileges I do have. The end.