A place to live and someone to live with!

So, with fingers crossed, I’m going to share a little bit about what I hope to eventually be my new home and whom I hope to eventually be my new best friend. First, the house. After talking to people and looking around Cisco, I came to the conclusion there are not many options for me for places to live. PC requires that volunteers live with a host family for a minimum of two months, after which they can decide what they want to do. I always planned on living on my own eventually, and this is still the plan. I had a good talk with my family about it a few weeks ago, where they reassured me that I was welcome to stay as long as I wanted but that they understood I would probably move out. Really, the living with the host family hasn’t bothered me as much as I thought it might. I spend enough alone time, have my own space (with my own bathroom) separate from the house, enjoy taking my meals with them, and have company/help for the things I need to do. It would be completely ideal if my room were just a bit bigger. I’m kind of glad it’s not, though; if my room were bigger, I’d be tempted to stay here for my whole service and I don’t think that’s what’s best for me. Part of me does want to go back to living alone and I think the challenge of doing that here would be good for me.

That all being said, I was walking around down in Senti last week and a random guy approached me and asked me if I was the volunteer in Cisco looking for a place to rent. I affirmed and we talked and it turns out he’s somehow related to me (I think a cousin of a cousin), he and his parents live down in Senti, but they also have an empty little house in Cisco that they’d love to rent out to me. I was super excited. A few days later, the sister found me and brought me to the house. It’s pretty perfect. It’s a kitchen, big living room (already with hammock), bedroom (already with two beds, at least one of which they would loan me), and a small bathroom inside the house. That was great – the only other house I looked at, the one the volunteer before me had rented, had the shower and toilet outside. Plus the house was on the big side and deep down in the valley of the town, both things I wasn’t crazy about. But this house, my casita rosada (little pink house), was perfect. The sister showed me all around, talking a mile a minute about all the amenities (the round stovetop used to cook, the table and shelves in the kitchen, the flushing toilet, windows that open, electricity, the pila always with water) and excitedly assuring me they really wanted me to move in.

We exchanged numbers and I told her the only thing I thought the house needed was the special bars on the outside of the windows to protect them. I’m going to call her again next week so I can go back and look at a few more things (now I have a copy of the housing checklist from the PC and a sample rent agreement) and talk about more concrete numbers and dates. I want to test out the electricity and the different water supplies and talk about exactly what they’d lend me, among other things. Again, I’m really in no rush, but she had mentioned another family that was looking into renting it. I don’t know if this was to scare me or if it was true, but I don’t want to lose the house. Ideally, I’d like to move in January or February, once the holidays are over but before school has started. We’ll see what happens – if they insisted on December, I’d do it.

The best part of the house, though, I saved for last: it’s literally two houses away from where I live right now! I’d get to stay in the same neighborhood, be able to yell across a house to my host family, and visit all the time. I’m going to talk to them about still taking a meal or two with them after I move, too, or at least for the first month or two while I play around with Honduran cooking and grocery shopping and food budgeting. It’s not so easy to get everything you need when the closest grocery store is an hour and 2-3 busses away and you don’t have a normal stove, an oven, or a microwave. But I’m mostly looking forward to that experience…I figure it can only teach me and help me lose weight for Christa’s wedding, anyways. So wish me luck and hopefully next week I’ll have something more concrete to say about my potential new home.

And what of a new best friend? Well, I’ve put it out there in the community that I wanted a puppy basically since the day I got here. I was always thinking about getting one once I moved on my own and after my scary bus-stop evening with Jackson, I was fully convinced. I can’t wait to have a tiny puppy to play with and keep me company as I set up my new home. I’m super excited to watch it grow into a huge dog, and to completely spoil it. Well, tonight I had a great offer made to me. One of my sisters was over (she lives like 10 minutes away by car, the only child of my host mom not technically living in Cisco) and offered me one of the puppies her dog was about to have. Actually, she’s going to sell the puppies, but she offered me one for free and Pammy told me she wanted the dog after I left. This is super awesome in so many ways. I know my dog’s mother was well taken care of and it can stay healthily with the mom for a few weeks before I’m ready to take it and it’s ready to leave its mom. I’ll get a puppy for free. And, best of all, I’ll have someone to leave it with, someone that I trust, after two years (and whenever I go on vacation)! This was hugely important because I know I couldn’t take it home after my service (though lots of volunteers do).

I only saw my future dog’s father, but he was a pretty big dog. I can’t tell at all what breed he might be a mix of – not exactly a lab or a rottweiler (I really wanted one of these two types), but I’ll gladly take it. I think I’m going to go Saturday to their house to meet the mother (hopefully she’s even bigger) and we can talk more about when she will give birth and when I can take my puppy and if I can visit a few times to choose the right one and everything. I think I already have a name picked out, but I want to meet my little pup and make sure it fits and everything. I’m still torn on whether I want a girl or boy puppy…that’s why I’m hoping either the decision will be made for me or I can meet the puppies and decide from there.

So, I’ll say it again: Please keep your fingers crossed for me! It’s quite easy for things to not work out here in Honduras, with just about anything you think is a done deal. My hopes are already too high for both of these wishes…but I can’t help being excited and hopeful! Wish me luck and I’ll keep you updated.