Yes, I am still alive! We arrived in Honduras on December 27th after all the festivities in Antigua. We live in Copan Ruinas, Honduras very near a grouping of ancient Maya ruins. Copan is warmer than Antigua and is a much smaller community. I met my host mother, Elena, on the 27th and moved in that night. Elena is an amazing cook and locals come to her home each day to eat lunch and dinner. Elena's daughter Daysi lives in the home too and there are many rooms which are usually filled with Hondurenos who are working in or near Copan or with tourists who are visiting Copan. I have met some very interesting and amazing people thus far. Enrique is an archaeologist who works Mayan ruin sites, Norvito is a local accountant who enjoys playing football on the weekends, Luis is an electrician who is working on projects bringing electricity to indigenous communities, Ellen is a Seattlite who rents an apartment from Elena and she works in the local schools and teaches English to adults in the evenings, and there are many other tourists who attend Spanish school or locals who are working and enjoy Elena's food that I speak with each day. I feel like my Spanish is progressing quite well and this week was major step in the right direction as I find myself understanding more and more. My head is filled with new Spanish verbs and words but I am very motivated to keep the momentum rolling. Back to Elena...I have my own room upstairs with a balcony overlooking the green rolling hills of Copan. Also, she prepares wonderful food: fresh fruits, eggs, black beans, tortillas, wonderful soups, salads, meat and chicken, rice, fresh drinks, coffee, etc, etc. The weirdest part of it all is that I am now eating plantains which I couldn't eat before because of a bad experience in El Salvador in 2004. And...Mom, I'm eating cantaloupe! I don't think there exists a food I don't like in the entire world now! I have loved living in Elena's home and meeting so many new people. The school we work for is located in an indigenous community named San Rafael. There are six grades of students but for the first two weeks only grades one and two attend for some remedial work before the first official day on Feb. 1st. I have switched between helping Susan in the second grade class to helping construct a new pila at the school. A pila is basically a water storage site where water is stored for multiple uses: hand washing, cleaning, flushing the toilets, washing items, etc. It is an important step and I work with a local man named Rene. I think Rene believed I was a complete idiot for the first few days but began to understand that my Spanish was not great and now we have a pretty good working relationship. He is very quiet but a determined and hard worker. We are close to completing the pila and I will be glad to be done hauling sand, water, cement and mixing them constantly. I have also hauled many a cinder block and sawed many pieces of ribarb for the pila. Overall, it has been very rewarding. Further, we have begun to install gutters on the roof of the school to catch the rain and prevent water from building up on the ground. One last detail, we have been teaching English classes to young people aged 8-18 twice a week. For some, it is there first experience with the English language and it's an honor to be their first teacher! I will be teaching the fourth grade class beginning in February and I am looking forward to this! Sophie, our intern in Copan just left this morning so it's the old group again: myself, Susan, Aviv, and Maya. A new intern will arrive this weekend but it is very different going from over 20 volunteers in Antigua to four. But...our group does well together and we are having some good times. Two other volunteers, Noah and Marianne left over two weeks ago and we will hopefully get the chance to meet up with them in Nicaragua down the road. New Year's was passed in Copan and we went out on the town and had a great time! The locals are incredibly nice and my Spanish teacher is the absolute greatest. Her name is Nelly and she is so energetic and funny and smart. I have purchased additional Spanish classes to continue to work on the language and Nelly is a huge support for me here. This weekend, we will travel to an indigenous community with Ellen and on Friday I will be helping to teach an English class for a local man who has a strong desire to improve his English. We will also be going to a butterfly reserve and then at some point down the road we will take a tour of the Mayan ruins which are about ten minutes away! Everybody, check out my new pictures I have added to old posts as well-I finally got a strong enough connection to post them. Hope all is well with everyone. Until next time, buenas noches!