OK, it's a few days later. I am going to a huge party today for the Honduras versus Trinidad and Tobago soccer game, so I have to keep this short.
Last night I went to a party that was thrown by a couple of the mamas of people in my group. It was so much fun! Once I steal the pics from Becky, I will post a few. I learned how to dance the Punta and Merengue. So much fun, but dancing when it is still over 90F is really hot. I can´t even explain how much fun it was.
Things are progessing here. I get soup a lot although I don´t understand a hot bowl of soup on a hot day. There was some other food related story that I wanted to mention, but I can´t think of it right now.
Hmm, so the hammock is a beautiful thing. Swinging on one on a really hot day is quite the luxuy, because my hammock is in a cooler place that gets a breeze.
A little more on my family here.
My host Mom is Dilma. She is a very sweet, very energetic person. She is a teacher here. My host Dad is an administrator for the police in Teguc. I don´t know my oldest host sisters well. I only saw them for a few hours. I will get to know them better during Semana Santa though. My host sister who lives here is really nice and has a lot of patience with me. Her name is Paola. Today we went shopping together in town because I wanted to buy a skirt. I had read some blogs from volunteers that said that skirts were a bad idea because of unwanted attention. Well, thick jeans at 110F is a bad idea too. My host brother Jorgito (Jorge Junior) is nice. He was kind of timid at first, but once i got that kid talking about soccer, it was all good. He probably has the most patience with my Spanish and speaks the clearest in the family, so i like when he is around.
Um, I think that is all I have to say now. A lot of things are kind of becoming normal, so there may be more that you´d be interested in, but to me they are normal now. Also, please keep in contact. I feel like I write a lot about my life and don´t know how any of you are doing. If you have to, send me an email. I think I can get once a week online time without a problem. Letters take three weeks or more to get here, so if you have already sent letters, I just haven´t received them yet. Monday is mail day though!
No pics today, sorry.
Love you always
Jill
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
oops
so, i in an internet cafe now trying to do a video chat thing with my parents, and i shut everything down to try to get that to work, but it is just not happening. the two pictures above are the other ones for the last entry.
anything else, oh yeah, i didn´t write about the charla we gave the other day. on tuesday, all the groups had to give a charla (its kind of a mix between a talk and a presentation). my group gave a talk that works with water systems in the area. i was really happy to not have to go to the schools. the group we got was really active and liked to talk which was a blessing. my spanish held up for me which was something i really appreciated. we have our next spanish classes next week, and it will be fun to see what level i am at now. i was bugging my spanish teacher to tell me what level she thinks i am at now but she wouldn´t. its always a secret with the spanish classes, i don´t know why. i know i have improved a lot. i still need to get better at understanding people though who have not been trained to speak slowly and enunciate like crazy. goodness knows i never took the time to enunciate correctly in english.
what else. we have been out in the field the last two days doing abney level studies. it is well over 100F outside, so it is very fun to do this. also, we somehow managed to uncalibrate our instrument. i have pictures, but i need to put them on my computer, then later onto my usb drive.
i think that is it for now.
love you all
Jill
End of first part of training:
Volunteer visit
Last weekend I went to visit a volunteer in Siguatepeque (I couldn’t pronounce it either until I got here). Michelle works as an engineer designing water systems for the aldeas surrounding Siguat. I travelled there with three other trainees. It was actually just a stroke of luck that I got to travel with them. I didn’t find anyone the night before that was travelling my way (which seemed odd), so I just went up to my friend Annie who is my neighbor and asked her when she was going to Teguc, so that I could ride up with her. Then, at the bus stop the morning we were leaving, I found out that we were going to take the same bus.
I really liked Siguat. The town was very nice, actually it is a city. I really thought that I was going to join the Peace Corps, and then live in a tiny little town, without water or electricity (very dramatic like), but now I want to live in a city. Its odd, but I like that cities have restaurants, markets, supermarkets, and internet cafes. I also just like the feel of the smaller cities here (Teguc is the exception to the cities, it’s not really a great place). It just goes to show you how much can change.
I found out a lot about the peace corps, the water and sanitation group, and about the life of a volunteer from Michelle. On the second day we started a topography study to start planning for a new water system in a nearby community. The old system there is 35 years old. The town had grown enough that a while ago, they just built a PCV system that was not planned out very well. Now that have a lot of problems, and are interested in building a new system to replace the old and newer systems. What wat/san volunteers do is provide the feasibility study and the plan for the community, but that have to provide a lot of information, help with the topo studies and it is their responsibility to pay for the project. By doing this for them, we can significantly cut the budget, because engineering fees are high, but they have to pay for the rest. Some volunteers get into grant writing, and working with the community to see how funds can be raised, but others don’t. It’s a personal choice on that one.
At the beginning of the day, I didn’t really know what to do, because although we had had an intro to surveying principles, we never set up the theodolite. By the end of the day I was an expert. I remember hearing undergrads complain about their surveying class that it was hard to set up the instrument and take the back and fore spots in 15 minutes. They MUST have had to do something else though, because by the end of the day I could set it up on a steep mountain, find the men with the back spot and estadio (I don’t know the word in English) through dense forest and take all measurements in under 15 minutes. I had a once in a lifetime experience though, I had to set up the theodolite on a steep ledge, so I just kind of eyeballed it for level before I began the fight of trying to level the thing, and it was perfect! Completely level. Once in a lifetime experience.
The area we were in was really pretty. In the more jungle-y portion there were ferns that were no joke 20 feet tall, which made for some really giant fiddleheads! We also passed through a coffee farm. While it was interesting to see a coffee farm, you can’t cut the branches down like you can in a forest, which makes it really fun to survey through there.
Michelle also coaches a baseball team for 8-12 year olds in her town. She coaches with two of her sitemates (volunteers that live in the same town). There is a lot different between a team here and a team in the states. There is a lot of discipline in the states (which I know I didn’t like getting yelled at by my coach for striking out) and once your parents sign you up, you have to go every week and your parents are there to help you and push you to work hard. Here, the kids sometimes have to beg their parents to let them play. They have to walk themselves there, and every week it a surprise which kids will show up which makes it hard to have consistency. I think it makes it even more impressive for those kids that have a lot going against them (no brand new sports equipment for them) plus other distraction, when they really show the dedication to the sport and to practicing. Also, these kids play once a month because the other teams are so far away and it costs a lot of money to move an entire team. To practice three times a week and only play once a month has to be hard.
I had a great visit.
Training:
Today (Sunday) we are switching training sites to field based training. Here we will really concentrate on the technical aspects of our jobs, as well as Spanish. The last two weeks of the training there are going to be completely in Spanish, no English by the instructors at all. I am both exciting and worried about this. I am also worried about moving to a new family. I really like my family here. I finally like all the food too (although refried beans are probably my least favorite though). So, it will be odd, but hopefully I will have the same luck and get a great family again. Tonight is going to be fun though because I will want to spend a lot of time with my new family, we have to walk around the town for Monday, I have to unpack, and I need to write in my journal, update more of this, and do homework. I am going to be up late again.
Ok, I will write more later tonight or tomorrow, because it is about time for me to leave here.
Well, it’s a few days later. It gets really busy here. This is the reason that no one has letters. I barely have time to do what I need to do, and there is no extra time.
Hmm, so about the big move- it sucked. Really, I know I should use a less vulgar word, but let me explain to you what happened. The bus arrived late at the stop in Las Canadas, then there was a lot of confusion over which bus everyone had to be one and how to organize the luggage so that it wouldn’t be a problem. Then we had three more stops to repeat the whole experience. Once we had both groups (Wat/San and Business- Health went north in their own bus) and all our stuff in the bus it was a tight fit. The ride to Ojojona was fine, and we left the business group there and headed to Pespire. Now, it wasn’t too hot in Ojojona, and we were all thinking that it wouldn’t be too hot in Pespire. We were wrong. The ride just kept getting hotter and hotter and hotter. It was ridiculous when we finally entered Pespire.
Now, part of the challenge in perspire was to find our houses using the provided directions. I headed out with a group to find our neighborhood. About one bock into the walk we get ourselves a bolo. A bolo is a drunk basically. They can be passed out randomly on street corners, or they can come up to you and babble on and on. Ours just rambled. At one point he even drooled on Jill’s shoe. So, we are walking and walking in the blistering heat with all our stuff, and trying to explain to the bolo that he should leave us alone. But eventually we are all just drained. At this point I volunteered to go find our families and see if there was anyone that could help us with our bags. I was actually quite proud of my Spanish. I was able to ask people for directions, talk with the family members and I even scored us a truck. Jill’s brother in law was about to leave when I arrived and offered to delay his trip for a few minutes while he helped us with our stuff. It turns out where we stopped really wasn’t far from our houses, but we were really just that drained.
My family here is great. During the week I have three family members in the house, and during the weekends I have six. My two oldest sisters live in teguc during the week because they are attending the university there. My host dad also lives there during the week for work. He works in the administration of the police. We haven’t gotten into detail yet on what he does exactly. During the week I live with my host mom (who is a teacher), my 15 year old sister, and an 11 year old brother. I’ve been here two days now, so I can’t give too much detail.
Today we gave a charla (it’s a presentation) to people who work for a local non-governmental organization (NGO). They work with juntas de aguas (water boards) and other related topics. Yesterday we had a lot to talk about community analysis, and everyone today gave a charla that used one of the tools. Our charla (I did it with four other people) went really well and the audience was really interested and involved in the process.
Tomorrow we start working outside the in ridiculous heat. Oh Goody!
So, although I don’t have time to write, feel free to write yourselves. Nothing will brighten my day after four hours in the sun in 100+ degree weather like a nice letter from my friends and family.
Jill
PS if you have questions, feel free to leave a comment or send me and an email, and I will try to respond to them in the blog.
Ok, the plan is to post this tomorrow. Hopefully it actually happens, but since I didn’t post it the other day I get to write more in this post. Eventually these posts should get shorter and you wont need an hour to catch up on my life each week.
First, I hear that Mom wrote up my other blogs. Thanks Mom! A big round of applause for her because they were long. She loves me, what can I say.
Back to Honduras. First of all, you pronounce it Onderias, because you don’t pronounce h’s here unless it is after a c (ch). Other interesting facts, you pronounce y’s life j’s in English. I finally put that together yesterday and already it has helped my speaking abilities.
Food: Now, I have mentioned food a lot because it is a big part of life here. Also because I knew going in that it was going to be a big problem for me. In the states I rarely ate beans because I didn’t like them. Now I have become accustomed to them. The other day I actually accepted a second helping of refried beans (I was very hungry). Now, only a few days later, I have realized the benefit of refried beans: they cover any taste. I get served these huge portions of cheese here, and I have never been a big fan of cheese, so just eat the cheese with the refried beans in a 2:1 mixture, and you barely taste the cheese. The first time I was served fried platinos, I had no idea what to make of the taste, it wasn’t bad, but it was different than anything else. Now, I love platinos, but in the beginning I ate a combo beans/platinos. Platinos are plantains.
Also, the pepsi and coke here are a lot different than in the states. Since sugarcane is more common than corn, they use it instead of corn syrup and you can really taste the flavor here. In the beginning I could really taste a difference, but now I like this new taste, and think I would prefer it to the soda in the states. I once described it as tasting like flat soda in the states (because you can taste the ingredients) but with the fiz. Others have said this is an apt description, but I can’t tell the difference anymore because I have become accustomed to the soda here, not that I have it often.
There are just so many new foods here I can’t describe them all. I will say for all you people that like mangoes, I am living in the region of Honduras that produces mangoes and they are cheap here. You can buy one for $0.05 or you can get one off the tree in the central park for free. This is mango season now, and they are perfect for the eating.
Clothing: It is hot here, but we have to keep a “professional casual” dress here. Also, I was told through emails and through reading other peoples blogs that skirts were not a good idea. Yeah, well, skirts would have been a fantastic idea. It is so hot here and we can’t wear shorts. I am luckily in the fact I am a woman and I can wear sandals. Today we were outside and I wore boots and it wasn’t too bad.
Ok, cutting off early to talk to the host fam.
Bye
Jill
Psych again, although I really should just erase that other part, I am not. This is much later in the evening. I spent a little while talking to my hermanos. Then I showered and I am enjoying a brief but wonderful portion of my day, the few minutes after showering and before starting to sweat again. It is a rare but beautiful thing to not be sweating here. Then to be clean and not sweating, its like gold.
So, other things to mention. My host family is great, they have really excepted me as part of the family, my mother calls me her oldest child. My mother is so great, as we speak she is washing my clothes. All clothes washing is done by hand on what is called a pila. Now, Honduran woman must all have really strong arms, because mine get so tired after about thirty seconds of doing this. I brought a bunch of clothes that needed to be washed, and then forgot or was too tired at night to wash them. Then tonight I was just going to bring a small group of clothes because I need a shirt for tomorrow. My Mom saw my pathetic technique at washing my clothes and took over. Then she told me to get the rest of my dirty clothes. I asked her if she was sure (she knew I had a lot). I have now learned that washing clothes is a daily process, not a once a week thing. She called it my mountain of dirty clothes. She is a wonderful lady.
Hmm, so about the heat. When I get out my shampoo at night to take a shower I can feel the hotness of the shampoo which has been in my oven of a room (all rooms here are ovens really) over the relative coolness of the night. Oh, in case any of you are wondering about the fact that I am washing clothes for tomorrow late at night, no se precupen, its still hot enough outside to dry the clothes in two hours. And working outside in the heat wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Don’t get me wrong, I was plenty cranky out there, and had some misunderstandings with another volunteer (sorry Ryan, although you kind of deserved it) but it was survivable. I brought plenty of water, so that didn’t become a problem. Yes, I am keeping plenty hydrated here, it seems that I am always downing bags of water. Oh, that is another thing, you can buy anything in a bag here. Instead of having a ton of plastic bottles of water, it comes in a bag, you just bite of a corner and drink. Also, I bought what is essentially a popsicle in a bag today. They reuse the glass soda bottles here, so if you don’t want to deal with the hassle of returning the bottle, they’ll just put it in a bag for you. I will try to get a few pictures for you.
Speaking of pictures, who knows where these pictures will wind up in this blog, but the ones I am planning on putting in here are:
Two pictures of my hiking trip which I didn’t talk about which was pretty much a comedy of errors, a picture of the fun and cramped conditions on the bus for moving day, and a few pictures of my new town. The church was built by the Spanish a long, long time ago. Another picture is of a street here, the cobblestone tradition was started by the Spanish in this town, and the last of the town in the central park (where the free mangoes are). I will try to get a picture of a water bag or other type of bagged beverage later for you folks.
Don’t forget to keep in touch!
Volunteer visit
Last weekend I went to visit a volunteer in Siguatepeque (I couldn’t pronounce it either until I got here). Michelle works as an engineer designing water systems for the aldeas surrounding Siguat. I travelled there with three other trainees. It was actually just a stroke of luck that I got to travel with them. I didn’t find anyone the night before that was travelling my way (which seemed odd), so I just went up to my friend Annie who is my neighbor and asked her when she was going to Teguc, so that I could ride up with her. Then, at the bus stop the morning we were leaving, I found out that we were going to take the same bus.
I really liked Siguat. The town was very nice, actually it is a city. I really thought that I was going to join the Peace Corps, and then live in a tiny little town, without water or electricity (very dramatic like), but now I want to live in a city. Its odd, but I like that cities have restaurants, markets, supermarkets, and internet cafes. I also just like the feel of the smaller cities here (Teguc is the exception to the cities, it’s not really a great place). It just goes to show you how much can change.
I found out a lot about the peace corps, the water and sanitation group, and about the life of a volunteer from Michelle. On the second day we started a topography study to start planning for a new water system in a nearby community. The old system there is 35 years old. The town had grown enough that a while ago, they just built a PCV system that was not planned out very well. Now that have a lot of problems, and are interested in building a new system to replace the old and newer systems. What wat/san volunteers do is provide the feasibility study and the plan for the community, but that have to provide a lot of information, help with the topo studies and it is their responsibility to pay for the project. By doing this for them, we can significantly cut the budget, because engineering fees are high, but they have to pay for the rest. Some volunteers get into grant writing, and working with the community to see how funds can be raised, but others don’t. It’s a personal choice on that one.
At the beginning of the day, I didn’t really know what to do, because although we had had an intro to surveying principles, we never set up the theodolite. By the end of the day I was an expert. I remember hearing undergrads complain about their surveying class that it was hard to set up the instrument and take the back and fore spots in 15 minutes. They MUST have had to do something else though, because by the end of the day I could set it up on a steep mountain, find the men with the back spot and estadio (I don’t know the word in English) through dense forest and take all measurements in under 15 minutes. I had a once in a lifetime experience though, I had to set up the theodolite on a steep ledge, so I just kind of eyeballed it for level before I began the fight of trying to level the thing, and it was perfect! Completely level. Once in a lifetime experience.
The area we were in was really pretty. In the more jungle-y portion there were ferns that were no joke 20 feet tall, which made for some really giant fiddleheads! We also passed through a coffee farm. While it was interesting to see a coffee farm, you can’t cut the branches down like you can in a forest, which makes it really fun to survey through there.
Michelle also coaches a baseball team for 8-12 year olds in her town. She coaches with two of her sitemates (volunteers that live in the same town). There is a lot different between a team here and a team in the states. There is a lot of discipline in the states (which I know I didn’t like getting yelled at by my coach for striking out) and once your parents sign you up, you have to go every week and your parents are there to help you and push you to work hard. Here, the kids sometimes have to beg their parents to let them play. They have to walk themselves there, and every week it a surprise which kids will show up which makes it hard to have consistency. I think it makes it even more impressive for those kids that have a lot going against them (no brand new sports equipment for them) plus other distraction, when they really show the dedication to the sport and to practicing. Also, these kids play once a month because the other teams are so far away and it costs a lot of money to move an entire team. To practice three times a week and only play once a month has to be hard.
I had a great visit.
Training:
Today (Sunday) we are switching training sites to field based training. Here we will really concentrate on the technical aspects of our jobs, as well as Spanish. The last two weeks of the training there are going to be completely in Spanish, no English by the instructors at all. I am both exciting and worried about this. I am also worried about moving to a new family. I really like my family here. I finally like all the food too (although refried beans are probably my least favorite though). So, it will be odd, but hopefully I will have the same luck and get a great family again. Tonight is going to be fun though because I will want to spend a lot of time with my new family, we have to walk around the town for Monday, I have to unpack, and I need to write in my journal, update more of this, and do homework. I am going to be up late again.
Ok, I will write more later tonight or tomorrow, because it is about time for me to leave here.
Well, it’s a few days later. It gets really busy here. This is the reason that no one has letters. I barely have time to do what I need to do, and there is no extra time.
Hmm, so about the big move- it sucked. Really, I know I should use a less vulgar word, but let me explain to you what happened. The bus arrived late at the stop in Las Canadas, then there was a lot of confusion over which bus everyone had to be one and how to organize the luggage so that it wouldn’t be a problem. Then we had three more stops to repeat the whole experience. Once we had both groups (Wat/San and Business- Health went north in their own bus) and all our stuff in the bus it was a tight fit. The ride to Ojojona was fine, and we left the business group there and headed to Pespire. Now, it wasn’t too hot in Ojojona, and we were all thinking that it wouldn’t be too hot in Pespire. We were wrong. The ride just kept getting hotter and hotter and hotter. It was ridiculous when we finally entered Pespire.
Now, part of the challenge in perspire was to find our houses using the provided directions. I headed out with a group to find our neighborhood. About one bock into the walk we get ourselves a bolo. A bolo is a drunk basically. They can be passed out randomly on street corners, or they can come up to you and babble on and on. Ours just rambled. At one point he even drooled on Jill’s shoe. So, we are walking and walking in the blistering heat with all our stuff, and trying to explain to the bolo that he should leave us alone. But eventually we are all just drained. At this point I volunteered to go find our families and see if there was anyone that could help us with our bags. I was actually quite proud of my Spanish. I was able to ask people for directions, talk with the family members and I even scored us a truck. Jill’s brother in law was about to leave when I arrived and offered to delay his trip for a few minutes while he helped us with our stuff. It turns out where we stopped really wasn’t far from our houses, but we were really just that drained.
My family here is great. During the week I have three family members in the house, and during the weekends I have six. My two oldest sisters live in teguc during the week because they are attending the university there. My host dad also lives there during the week for work. He works in the administration of the police. We haven’t gotten into detail yet on what he does exactly. During the week I live with my host mom (who is a teacher), my 15 year old sister, and an 11 year old brother. I’ve been here two days now, so I can’t give too much detail.
Today we gave a charla (it’s a presentation) to people who work for a local non-governmental organization (NGO). They work with juntas de aguas (water boards) and other related topics. Yesterday we had a lot to talk about community analysis, and everyone today gave a charla that used one of the tools. Our charla (I did it with four other people) went really well and the audience was really interested and involved in the process.
Tomorrow we start working outside the in ridiculous heat. Oh Goody!
So, although I don’t have time to write, feel free to write yourselves. Nothing will brighten my day after four hours in the sun in 100+ degree weather like a nice letter from my friends and family.
Jill
PS if you have questions, feel free to leave a comment or send me and an email, and I will try to respond to them in the blog.
Ok, the plan is to post this tomorrow. Hopefully it actually happens, but since I didn’t post it the other day I get to write more in this post. Eventually these posts should get shorter and you wont need an hour to catch up on my life each week.
First, I hear that Mom wrote up my other blogs. Thanks Mom! A big round of applause for her because they were long. She loves me, what can I say.
Back to Honduras. First of all, you pronounce it Onderias, because you don’t pronounce h’s here unless it is after a c (ch). Other interesting facts, you pronounce y’s life j’s in English. I finally put that together yesterday and already it has helped my speaking abilities.
Food: Now, I have mentioned food a lot because it is a big part of life here. Also because I knew going in that it was going to be a big problem for me. In the states I rarely ate beans because I didn’t like them. Now I have become accustomed to them. The other day I actually accepted a second helping of refried beans (I was very hungry). Now, only a few days later, I have realized the benefit of refried beans: they cover any taste. I get served these huge portions of cheese here, and I have never been a big fan of cheese, so just eat the cheese with the refried beans in a 2:1 mixture, and you barely taste the cheese. The first time I was served fried platinos, I had no idea what to make of the taste, it wasn’t bad, but it was different than anything else. Now, I love platinos, but in the beginning I ate a combo beans/platinos. Platinos are plantains.
Also, the pepsi and coke here are a lot different than in the states. Since sugarcane is more common than corn, they use it instead of corn syrup and you can really taste the flavor here. In the beginning I could really taste a difference, but now I like this new taste, and think I would prefer it to the soda in the states. I once described it as tasting like flat soda in the states (because you can taste the ingredients) but with the fiz. Others have said this is an apt description, but I can’t tell the difference anymore because I have become accustomed to the soda here, not that I have it often.
There are just so many new foods here I can’t describe them all. I will say for all you people that like mangoes, I am living in the region of Honduras that produces mangoes and they are cheap here. You can buy one for $0.05 or you can get one off the tree in the central park for free. This is mango season now, and they are perfect for the eating.
Clothing: It is hot here, but we have to keep a “professional casual” dress here. Also, I was told through emails and through reading other peoples blogs that skirts were not a good idea. Yeah, well, skirts would have been a fantastic idea. It is so hot here and we can’t wear shorts. I am luckily in the fact I am a woman and I can wear sandals. Today we were outside and I wore boots and it wasn’t too bad.
Ok, cutting off early to talk to the host fam.
Bye
Jill
Psych again, although I really should just erase that other part, I am not. This is much later in the evening. I spent a little while talking to my hermanos. Then I showered and I am enjoying a brief but wonderful portion of my day, the few minutes after showering and before starting to sweat again. It is a rare but beautiful thing to not be sweating here. Then to be clean and not sweating, its like gold.
So, other things to mention. My host family is great, they have really excepted me as part of the family, my mother calls me her oldest child. My mother is so great, as we speak she is washing my clothes. All clothes washing is done by hand on what is called a pila. Now, Honduran woman must all have really strong arms, because mine get so tired after about thirty seconds of doing this. I brought a bunch of clothes that needed to be washed, and then forgot or was too tired at night to wash them. Then tonight I was just going to bring a small group of clothes because I need a shirt for tomorrow. My Mom saw my pathetic technique at washing my clothes and took over. Then she told me to get the rest of my dirty clothes. I asked her if she was sure (she knew I had a lot). I have now learned that washing clothes is a daily process, not a once a week thing. She called it my mountain of dirty clothes. She is a wonderful lady.
Hmm, so about the heat. When I get out my shampoo at night to take a shower I can feel the hotness of the shampoo which has been in my oven of a room (all rooms here are ovens really) over the relative coolness of the night. Oh, in case any of you are wondering about the fact that I am washing clothes for tomorrow late at night, no se precupen, its still hot enough outside to dry the clothes in two hours. And working outside in the heat wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Don’t get me wrong, I was plenty cranky out there, and had some misunderstandings with another volunteer (sorry Ryan, although you kind of deserved it) but it was survivable. I brought plenty of water, so that didn’t become a problem. Yes, I am keeping plenty hydrated here, it seems that I am always downing bags of water. Oh, that is another thing, you can buy anything in a bag here. Instead of having a ton of plastic bottles of water, it comes in a bag, you just bite of a corner and drink. Also, I bought what is essentially a popsicle in a bag today. They reuse the glass soda bottles here, so if you don’t want to deal with the hassle of returning the bottle, they’ll just put it in a bag for you. I will try to get a few pictures for you.
Speaking of pictures, who knows where these pictures will wind up in this blog, but the ones I am planning on putting in here are:
Two pictures of my hiking trip which I didn’t talk about which was pretty much a comedy of errors, a picture of the fun and cramped conditions on the bus for moving day, and a few pictures of my new town. The church was built by the Spanish a long, long time ago. Another picture is of a street here, the cobblestone tradition was started by the Spanish in this town, and the last of the town in the central park (where the free mangoes are). I will try to get a picture of a water bag or other type of bagged beverage later for you folks.
Don’t forget to keep in touch!
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Written 3/1/09
This is the second of two blogs written in two days. Read the one titled "The First Few Days" first!
First, I know a lot of you are curious about how I am doing. I am doing my best to write a lot. At points it feels like I am not writing enough, but then I realized I mailed home (or will be mailing soon) two letters for one week of, scratch that, less than one week of being in Honduras. In case some of you are wondering where your letters are, they haven't been written yet (as of 3/1). Let me explain my schedule. I wake up early (I'm up by 5 a.m. every day). Before 6:20, I need to get the motivation to get up, do morning things including taking a very cold bucket bath. After that, I eat breakfast (cereal with hot milk) and leave for the training center. I'm busy all day there, and get back home just before 5 p.m. I talk (or try to talk anyways) with my host Mom as she prepares dinner, we eat, talk, watch TV (that's right, I have cable) and am really tired by 8 p.m. and asleep by 9 p.m. This doesn't leave a lot of time for writing. It's only because it's the weekend that I have time to write this now, but to be honest it is cutting into my sleep time. So, letters will come eventually. Oh, the other part is that besides writing these monster blogs (sorry Mom) I also write in a journal and can just plain get sick of writing. So much happens here in a day that I feel like I've been here for a very long time and yet it's been only about a week.
So, what have I been up to? Yesterday (Saturday) we had a half day at the training center. We did a lot of group-building exercises. I loved them, and got to know a bunch of people really well. Carrying someone on your back speeds up the get-to-know-you phase. Afterwards, a lot of people went to a nearby town, but I stayed home to get to know my family better. I did my first round of Honduras-style laundry. It was fun. My host Mom and I laughed a lot during the process. Let me see if I can properly describe the situation. We have what is called a pila (pee-lah). On one side there is a large cement basin filled with water. On the other side (above the water) is a cement 2 inch deep basin. On the bottom of this is a built-in cement washboard. So you use the bowl provided (think the side of a large dog's water bowl) and get your clothes wet. Then use the bars of laundry soap - yes that's right, bars - and rub some on your clothes. Then you wash. There is a proper technique, but I don't think I can explain it well here. Maybe I'll upload pictures later, when I have internet. It was a laugh riot though!
So, it's now the next night. On Sunday, I met up with some friends after breakfast. There is a pulperia (a very, very small grocery store) up the hill from me. One of the people there was the brave soul who decided to check out the hospital situation in Tegucigalpa (here on referred to as Teguc). She passed out Friday, and was sent to the hospital just in case it was something serious. So, she and her husband got to check out the hospital for the rest of us. They said it was a lot different that they have in the states, but it was not a bad experience. Someone else was sent to Teguc today. I think they need to hurry up with the health lectures before we really start falling like flies. In all seriousness, the Peace Corps and our families here are taking very good care of us. We are getting as many lectures a day as we possibly can.
It has occurred to me that I should try to describe Honduras to you. I live in a small town. Hmm, like I said, there is a small store by the road up the hill from my house. There are no roads down here. I haven't travelled further down the hill to see if there is another road down there. All there is are foot paths. I am not sure how everything was built down here. For instance, my room is a separate building from the rest of the house, and is much newer. It is made out of cinder blocks, so to build it the blocks would have had to have been carried down here by hand. Once my Spanish gets better, I'll ask about how it was built.
There are two other trainees that live in this part of town. Every morning we walk up the hill together. Not too far is the bus stop, and about 15 trainees get on the bus here. The bus ride is odd. It is great because there are the most beautiful views. Lots of green mountains everywhere you look. Then, it is kind of scary because people drive much more agressively here than in the states. Hondurans will agree with me here. There have been no close calls or anything, it is mostly an observation about other drivers than the bus driver. Remember, the Peace Corps' number one priority is our safety, so they wouldn't put us in a vehicle with a crazy driver. The bus ride (oh, it's a regular yellow school bus, although I swear it has four-wheel drive sometimes) only lasts about ten to fifteen minutes to the training center. Along the road we pass a lot of food stands, like fruit and veggie stands on the side of the road in the summer. Only these not only sell fruits and veggies, they have chicken and tortillas too. You can also see lots of stray dogs, a few horses, cows, and other animals along the road on any given day.
The training center is great. It is truthfully a lot better than I was expecting. One of its finer points is that it has a large open area in the middle which is great for frisbee and soccer (that is futbol here).
The weather here is nothing to complain about since we don't have snow. Although, it is a little odd. In the morning it is cold, but when the sun comes out it is hot. The kicker is that inside buildings it is almost always cold. So during the day you have to have a sweater on because it is cold inside. Then you take the sweater off outside. It's odd. Where my group is going for the next segment of training is supposedly very hot. I'm not sure if I am looking forward to that or not.
Tomorrow we find out which language class we are in. We have to reach at least an intermediate (middle) level to be able to swear in as a volunteer. I think I am a novice high, but again, I find out tomorrow. Then the real fun of three hours a day of language classes begin. I am looking forward to it though, because I still have a lot to learn. Oh, and I know exactly how Humberto's brothers feel. I smile and nod a lot woo. Sometimes there is just nothing else you can do.
I'll write again soon!
P.S., Don't be afraid to send me letters (How are the Bruins doing?)
Jill
First, I know a lot of you are curious about how I am doing. I am doing my best to write a lot. At points it feels like I am not writing enough, but then I realized I mailed home (or will be mailing soon) two letters for one week of, scratch that, less than one week of being in Honduras. In case some of you are wondering where your letters are, they haven't been written yet (as of 3/1). Let me explain my schedule. I wake up early (I'm up by 5 a.m. every day). Before 6:20, I need to get the motivation to get up, do morning things including taking a very cold bucket bath. After that, I eat breakfast (cereal with hot milk) and leave for the training center. I'm busy all day there, and get back home just before 5 p.m. I talk (or try to talk anyways) with my host Mom as she prepares dinner, we eat, talk, watch TV (that's right, I have cable) and am really tired by 8 p.m. and asleep by 9 p.m. This doesn't leave a lot of time for writing. It's only because it's the weekend that I have time to write this now, but to be honest it is cutting into my sleep time. So, letters will come eventually. Oh, the other part is that besides writing these monster blogs (sorry Mom) I also write in a journal and can just plain get sick of writing. So much happens here in a day that I feel like I've been here for a very long time and yet it's been only about a week.
So, what have I been up to? Yesterday (Saturday) we had a half day at the training center. We did a lot of group-building exercises. I loved them, and got to know a bunch of people really well. Carrying someone on your back speeds up the get-to-know-you phase. Afterwards, a lot of people went to a nearby town, but I stayed home to get to know my family better. I did my first round of Honduras-style laundry. It was fun. My host Mom and I laughed a lot during the process. Let me see if I can properly describe the situation. We have what is called a pila (pee-lah). On one side there is a large cement basin filled with water. On the other side (above the water) is a cement 2 inch deep basin. On the bottom of this is a built-in cement washboard. So you use the bowl provided (think the side of a large dog's water bowl) and get your clothes wet. Then use the bars of laundry soap - yes that's right, bars - and rub some on your clothes. Then you wash. There is a proper technique, but I don't think I can explain it well here. Maybe I'll upload pictures later, when I have internet. It was a laugh riot though!
So, it's now the next night. On Sunday, I met up with some friends after breakfast. There is a pulperia (a very, very small grocery store) up the hill from me. One of the people there was the brave soul who decided to check out the hospital situation in Tegucigalpa (here on referred to as Teguc). She passed out Friday, and was sent to the hospital just in case it was something serious. So, she and her husband got to check out the hospital for the rest of us. They said it was a lot different that they have in the states, but it was not a bad experience. Someone else was sent to Teguc today. I think they need to hurry up with the health lectures before we really start falling like flies. In all seriousness, the Peace Corps and our families here are taking very good care of us. We are getting as many lectures a day as we possibly can.
It has occurred to me that I should try to describe Honduras to you. I live in a small town. Hmm, like I said, there is a small store by the road up the hill from my house. There are no roads down here. I haven't travelled further down the hill to see if there is another road down there. All there is are foot paths. I am not sure how everything was built down here. For instance, my room is a separate building from the rest of the house, and is much newer. It is made out of cinder blocks, so to build it the blocks would have had to have been carried down here by hand. Once my Spanish gets better, I'll ask about how it was built.
There are two other trainees that live in this part of town. Every morning we walk up the hill together. Not too far is the bus stop, and about 15 trainees get on the bus here. The bus ride is odd. It is great because there are the most beautiful views. Lots of green mountains everywhere you look. Then, it is kind of scary because people drive much more agressively here than in the states. Hondurans will agree with me here. There have been no close calls or anything, it is mostly an observation about other drivers than the bus driver. Remember, the Peace Corps' number one priority is our safety, so they wouldn't put us in a vehicle with a crazy driver. The bus ride (oh, it's a regular yellow school bus, although I swear it has four-wheel drive sometimes) only lasts about ten to fifteen minutes to the training center. Along the road we pass a lot of food stands, like fruit and veggie stands on the side of the road in the summer. Only these not only sell fruits and veggies, they have chicken and tortillas too. You can also see lots of stray dogs, a few horses, cows, and other animals along the road on any given day.
The training center is great. It is truthfully a lot better than I was expecting. One of its finer points is that it has a large open area in the middle which is great for frisbee and soccer (that is futbol here).
The weather here is nothing to complain about since we don't have snow. Although, it is a little odd. In the morning it is cold, but when the sun comes out it is hot. The kicker is that inside buildings it is almost always cold. So during the day you have to have a sweater on because it is cold inside. Then you take the sweater off outside. It's odd. Where my group is going for the next segment of training is supposedly very hot. I'm not sure if I am looking forward to that or not.
Tomorrow we find out which language class we are in. We have to reach at least an intermediate (middle) level to be able to swear in as a volunteer. I think I am a novice high, but again, I find out tomorrow. Then the real fun of three hours a day of language classes begin. I am looking forward to it though, because I still have a lot to learn. Oh, and I know exactly how Humberto's brothers feel. I smile and nod a lot woo. Sometimes there is just nothing else you can do.
I'll write again soon!
P.S., Don't be afraid to send me letters (How are the Bruins doing?)
Jill
First few days
Flying to Honduras was not bad. The landing into Tegucigalpa can be scary if you are at all afraid of flying. Instead of a nice straight descent to the airport, the airplane is flying around mountains and foothills. My first thought when I saw Honduras (there were high and mid-altitude clouds so we were pretty close before we could actually see anything) was "Whoa!" It's so green and there are so many glorious mountains! Once we made it through staging there were Peace Corps staffers there to get us through the airport and onto the bus to our training center. Suffice it to say, but the training center is much better than a lot were expecting.
A few short hours after arriving in Honduras we were introduced to our host families and bussed to our new homes for the next few weeks. Although other trainees are temporarily living in the lap of luxury, I really like my family. My two host brothers live close by and one lived in the states for 4 years so he knows English. My host sister lives here as well and knows about as much English as I do Spanish, so we are helping each other become bi-lingual.
We start what I think will be our "normal" training days on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. It's all "Survival Spanish" and introductions to staff, the Peace Corps, and Peace Corps policies. Not to mention pin-cushion time (vaccinations).
The bus ride every day (10 minutes) from my village to the training center is just amazing. The views are gorgeous (las vistas son preciosas). You need to look out the side and not at the road though because drivers here are what Americans see as reckless. You can pass anyone at anytime.
The other aspirentos (trainees) all seem very nice. I still have a few names to memorize, but there are 49 of us, so give me a break. Speaking of trainees, I brought my frisbee to training today and it was a big hit at lunch time!
Anything else I think you might want to know? Ah, yes, food. During the two hour break between traveling and living with host families, they stressed the importance of eating everything. So I have eaten a lot of new foods so far, including a lot of rice and beans. No wonder people often gain weight in the Peace Corps, you just keep getting offered a ton of food which we have to eat! My host Mom said I only have to eat what I like and that I can stop eating when I'm full (she's nice). I still eat everything put in front of me, I just need to learn to ask for less.
A few short hours after arriving in Honduras we were introduced to our host families and bussed to our new homes for the next few weeks. Although other trainees are temporarily living in the lap of luxury, I really like my family. My two host brothers live close by and one lived in the states for 4 years so he knows English. My host sister lives here as well and knows about as much English as I do Spanish, so we are helping each other become bi-lingual.
We start what I think will be our "normal" training days on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. It's all "Survival Spanish" and introductions to staff, the Peace Corps, and Peace Corps policies. Not to mention pin-cushion time (vaccinations).
The bus ride every day (10 minutes) from my village to the training center is just amazing. The views are gorgeous (las vistas son preciosas). You need to look out the side and not at the road though because drivers here are what Americans see as reckless. You can pass anyone at anytime.
The other aspirentos (trainees) all seem very nice. I still have a few names to memorize, but there are 49 of us, so give me a break. Speaking of trainees, I brought my frisbee to training today and it was a big hit at lunch time!
Anything else I think you might want to know? Ah, yes, food. During the two hour break between traveling and living with host families, they stressed the importance of eating everything. So I have eaten a lot of new foods so far, including a lot of rice and beans. No wonder people often gain weight in the Peace Corps, you just keep getting offered a ton of food which we have to eat! My host Mom said I only have to eat what I like and that I can stop eating when I'm full (she's nice). I still eat everything put in front of me, I just need to learn to ask for less.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Yes, I am alive
Note, i can´t seem to add pictures in the text, so they are all in the beginning, but there are captions to followWritten 3/14/09
So, I know this is the first thing to be posted, but it far from the first thing to be written. I don’t want to rewrite all of that, so I will just give a little overview.
First, I am alive; publication of this post should have told you that. We arrived in country three weeks ago without any problems. The first few days were really crazy. We got into the airport in Honduras around noon. I think I wrote about the landing, if not, it is definitely worth the explanation. Tegucigalpa (Teguc) is surrounded by mountains and foothills. To land an aircraft, you have to swerve around said obstacles. I was way too busy staring at the lush green mountains to care that the plane is narrowly avoiding hitting objects. So, if you are contemplating visiting, you must be able to be ok with this, because it will only be your first shock into Honduran life.
View from near my house (above)
My family here is great. I am certain I have written a lot about them, but here are the basic facts. I live with a GREAT family. My first few days here I barely spoke a word of Spanish, and they are strong enough to be able to get past that. I have a hard time understanding some of the family even now, and at the beginning I was nervous about using my horrendous Spanish. Now, my Spanish has improved, all those things I learned are starting to play in, and most importantly, I said I really need to learn, so I started talking even though I do make mistakes (and often), but I can now say a lot more and say it faster. Back to the family. The mom and dad are great. My Mom, Francisca is a great cook. The food has been a little of a gastrointestinal shock, but for the most part I am doing well. There are still a few things I don’t like, but I have eaten a lot of beans and rice. I like whole beans a lot more than refried beans.
Training is going really well. I really like my project training specialist, and APCD, which are the two guys who head the water and sanitation (WatSan) group. I am excited to head into field based training, and really to start working on everything. Oh, we had a competition in our group to see who could build the best hand pump, and my group won. Yeah!
Los Ganadores, and our precious pump- threading galvanized iron is a pain
Language classes are going strong. I know that I have learned. Because I am in the bottom of the barrel as far as language goes, I get twice a week extra tutoring. Those hours are great because it is one hour of one on one instruction, but its mostly them having you talk for an hour and occasionally they chime in when you make a mistake. In the language classes, there is a lot more instructor talking (about grammar or key words) and three people learning. The extra hour is great, and so are the classes. I don’t forsee a problem at passing the language proficiency test. I just need more practice and vocabulary.
Day One- our first bus ride in country
Ahh, so, I live not too far away from Teguc. I like my town. It is very small. Everyday I have my packed lunch and I get on the yellow school bus with the other gringos and we go off to school. It is very reminiscent of grade school. Yellow buses by the way are the buses that go from city to city. They are usually pretty full, and are blaring some type of music, and from my little experience, it is usually reggeaton. The buses are a fun time though.
I am in a group (Honduras 14) with 49 other people. We are an interesting mix of people. There is really every type of person, we all have different backgrounds, likes and dislikes, but we get along very well as a group. We get a long so well that we have a little punctuality problem. We are late for everything because we talk to much. Within my project we have 17 (?) people. We have 2.5 out of the 4 married couples. In a week when we split up for FBT, we are going to be by ourselves. We are going to the HOT part of the country.
(At the airport trying to get to Honduras at 4:30 in the morning!)
Speaking of which, I live in the mountains. The weather here is perfect. In the beginning, the mornings were pretty chilly, but it has finally warmed up here, and it really just is a perfect temperature all the time. The mornings are fresh, not too cold, but enough to be refreshing. The days get warm, but not too hot. Then the evenings are a prefect mix. It is the summer here, so this is as hot as it gets. I think I will definitely be requesting a spot up in the mountains. It is funny, my host mom was raised in a hotter part of the country, and now is cold all the time. Well, that’s a little bit of an exaggeration. But she is cold a lot, so we laugh at each other.
More on the food. Most of the food is great. I like all the fresh fruits and veggies. For a while I had stomach problems (which are now all resolved), and got soup a lot, which thankfully gave me a break from beans. Going from never eating beans to having them at every meal is a shock to the system. Now, I can eat them and my stomach is more prepared. My mother by the way is awesome when I don’t like something. At our first meeting, before we met our host parents, we were told to shut up and eat everything they put in front of us. My host mom is really good about not making me eat things I don’t like. I have tried to adapt a more culturally appropriate way of living, and part of it is eating what was made for me, but my host mom asks me if I like it or if I would like to have something else. The funny part about meals is that I eat very little according to my family here. When I took the meds for my stomach they completely wiped out my appetite. One apple and I was very full. Even now though, what she calls a little tiny bit of soup is a whole bowl. So, my family jokes that I don’t eat a lot. Meanwhile, I am stuffing myself at every meal to eat everything that they put in front of me.
Food that I have liked (no spellings are guaranteed): chorizo ( a hot dog/sausage mix that is fantastic, I could eat it every night), manthatha (greens plus veggie dish), panqueques con miel (pancakes with honey), papaya, mango, fresh juices (most days I get fresh squeezed juice for lunch). Ok, there are def more, but I am tired and still have to pack before my trip tomorrow, but more info on that later.
The lemons here are huge! These grow outside my bedroom. They are the size or a child’s head!
I love you. Also, letters seem to be taking forever to reach here, just an fyi. Don’t send anything that needs to be seen timely. Starting in a week I should be getting fairly regular access to the internet, so I should be posting blogs more often.
Take care and love you all,
Jill
My mosquite net, I’m real Peace Corps now! My room is really sweet! It is a separate building, which is great when I want to be alone, and is just plain great.
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