Clash of Cultures... Well Maybe Not

Things are very different in other cultures.  It is quite clear that football dominates the United States.  Everywhere else in the world soccer dominates.  Anybody that knows me well, knows that I do not watch soccer very much.  I enjoy playing it but never watching.  The girls in my can sit and watch soccer for hours and recently my brother got into soccer but I have never enjoyed it.  Sunday, we took advantage of an opportunity to see the Tegucigulpa Olympia to the soccer team from San Pedro Sula in the Honduran Championship.  The scene was absolute chaos.  I never appreciated turn styles before but in Honduras there are none and people are forced to come in a few people at a time.  When the doors opened it was madness (if Milena’s parents are reading I made sure that she was safe and that no one messed with her), people were waving their tickets in the air in vain attempts to get into the stadium and then the doors would shut tight.  It seemed that we were never going to get into the stadium in time to watch any of the game.  Luckily, another door opened and we were let into the stadium.  I have never seen a stadium more packed with people.  I wondered the entire time where our seats were but in stadiums like this one, there aren’t really any seats.  We basically had to be patient until halftime when we could grab a ledge to stand on.  A few of us got luckily and could stand up and have a good position to watch the game.  We left the game early to avoid traffic and any potential that could come from rowdy.

The drive to the game was very interesting.  It takes hours to get anywhere in Honduras.  It seemed that all we did for hours was make huge circles.  We ate at Burger King for lunch and Pizza Hut for dinner, a BIG time cultural immersion.  It was interesting to see that even here, sometimes cultures stay the same. 

It has been a while since I have posted a blog.  Since then, our project has really progressed.  The Model Home Project is officially under way and currently the Heart to Honduras staff is searching for a suitable family to receive the house.  All the funding is currently coming in.  A few changes have occurred to our original designs, but the house should serve as a great example of a more culturally appropriate house for Heart to Honduras. 

Over the past week, we had the pleasure of meeting a fantastic couple, Kaleb and Stacy Eldridge.  They are a couple around our age living in Las Lomintas in Honduras.  They completely engineered their own house with a rain catchment system.  It is an amazing example of living simply but still being an example of healthy, sustainable lifestyle to the Honduran people.  Their lifestyle and choices have had a big impact on all of us which helps us question the way we live in the United States.  Simple living has a profound impact on a community.