Prom shopping, mass, and awkward goldfish

Giovanni, Rosa, Emily and Me in Tegus

My little friend who lives in my closet

    This week has been sleepy. Last Saturday there was another Tallier project at school, but I didn't end up going because my family was going to Tegus to look for a prom dress for Rosa. My host mom, Rosa's Aunt, Rosa's little cousin Emily and Giovanni and I went to a few stores and Rosa picked out a beautiful pale green satin floor length gown. Here, if you want to buy clothes of even considerably good quality, you have to go to Tegucigalpa. I was coached to tell the shop owners that we're from Tegus if they ask because apparently if you tell them you're from outside they show you the worst dresses-- haha! Tegus really is like a whole different country. 
    Even though you can find good clothes in Tegus from American and European brands, the prices are outrageous. They charge at least twice as much for any given article of clothing, and they hang cheap fashion chain brands like Forever 21 and H&M in boutiques along with designer. I'm going to Rosa's Prom, too because it's not really a dance but more like a formal graduation party. I didn't realize until after our shopping trip that I'm supposed to buy a formal dress too-- I thought one I brought was nice enough, but I showed it to my host mom and she said it wasn't. Shoot. Item # 345,678 I really should have packed...hopefully we'll go to Tegus again sometime in the next three weeks because the thought of trying to buy a formal dress in Comayagua makes me shudder. This experience is really making me realize what a diva I am.
    Another event coming up is the mothers day celebration at our school...I'm a senior, and apparently we're the entertainment. We're all supposed to either sing or dance...everyone's dancing, but I'm white and I can't dance, so that's not happening. Everyone wants me to sing-- I don't really get stage fright singing in public, but the main problem is that I have no idea what to sing. It's so hard to find a song that's good for mother's day. Also, it's hard finding opportunities to practice since I feel self-conscious about the fact that the whole neighborhood can hear our household activity. Not that the neighbors don't deserve it for blasting their mariachi music late into the evening, but still. I could always play the Bewildered Exchange Student Card and get out of it. 
    Today I got to experience my very first Catholic mass, which was slightly more exciting than Lab class. We just sung and prayed and chanted things. I was scolded very publicly for not singing along, but I was like, "I don't know the words, dude, what you gonna do?" Actually I just smiled awkwardly like I didn't understand and the service went on. There was wine and bread present, like at protestant communions, but instead of everyone taking some like we do, only the priest drank the wine and ate the bread. Haha. Okay. 
    The only other abnormality in my week was having to talk in front of my class today. El director, Senor Carlos, decided that I should take a turn doing the morning chapel like everyone else, but he decided instead of having me talk about God he wanted me to give a speech about myself "to practice my spanish". My classmates Mirta, Kevin M, and Nicol teased me about it all week, saying "Remember, Kaiti, on friday you have tu momento religioso" with an evil glint in their eye, and then laughing like the voyeuristic fools they are when I squirmed with dread and discomfort. Awesome. I just babbled about my hometown, my family, and my school for a minute and I must have made a lot of mistakes because everyone kept laughing. Afterwards I asked if anyone had any questions, but they just stared at me like a bunch of awkward goldfish. Ugh. 
   I still haven't had my compañeras over to swim, because every time we plan something, a test or something comes up and they have to study. Most of the people I talk to are from the other class, Secretarios, and they have to study even more than my class does! Most of them rarely get more than 5 hours of sleep a night.
    Tomorrow I have another school project, my class is doing some sort of volunteer work. I'm not really excited about going to school on Saturday (again) at 7:30 in the morning, but at least it will be a much-needed opportunity to hang out with my classmates.