Different Culture, Different Problems

Last night at about 10:20 p.m. I was sitting on my bed talking with one of my roommates. We were discussing the cultural that we now find ourselves in and what we have learned.  Out of no where we heard loud shots outside of our house. We turned to each other quickly. "Firecrackers?" I asked. And then the noise happened again and we knew it was much more dangerous than firecrackers. After we sat frozen for a few seconds were heard more noise and moved to our common living area upstairs. More of our roommates ran in distrust and out of breath. They informed us that they had been at the basketball courts right next to the gunfire. They told us that everyone started to run and slam their doors. We counted all of our people and locked our gates and doors. And then we waited to hear more. We heard a few more shots but we were all safe inside. I could feel my heart beating louder than ever before. I called my parents and a few others to give a brief summary of what was going on. We learned later that a group of people robbed a store in town and then fled to our part of the neighborhood. They were stopped by the police and that was the gunfire that we heard. We are waiting to hear more about the situation.


Today we resumed life as normal and are locking up everything early tonight.


Here are some pictures from walking to school and to the store for school supplies today.

Enjoy, I love you all.

One of my students sisters. 

One of my students! I was welcomed into her house by her mother. She was happy to bring me a chair and to show me her puppy. Sierna wants to learn English so she can communicate with her father who lives in New York. 

One of my neighbors!

More cuties that live right next to me.

I let one of the older girls on my block take my picture because she asked so sweetly and was very careful. Brought a big smile to her face.

Shelling peas on the corner.

I tried sugar cane today! 50 pesos per stock. You chew out the sugar and discard the stock when it has lost its flavor. Don't worry I didn't eat too much because I ran into one of my favorite students and was happy to share with her.