Monday, April 20, 2009
let see if we can get some photos up
I like me some cake!
My family when we were celebratingPaola's b-day
Another charla pic, this was one of the good groups
Me giving my charla to the 4th graders.
Playing soccer on the beach. Man, I am white! You can see the beach swallowing our field.
Beach at low tide
Jesus getting "nailed to the cross"
Sand rug for semana santa.
Family members, in front my uncle, grandmother, and Mom, with a bunch of cousins in the back.
On the way to San Juan Bosque
People swimming in the river.
Peace Corps mobile
Beto with a bag of water.View from road to san juan bosque video
and the training continues
More news from the furnace:
Well, Easter Sunday was a lot more relaxed than I thought it would be. Since all of my family was still tired from the beach, and therefore nothing was ever said about mass. At least I think that was the reason. Well, Sunday night my sister asked me if I wanted to go, and I said yes, and it only turned out to be me and her going to mass that night. The church is really pretty at night.
Monday we went on a hike in the afternoon. There are these trees here in Honduras which produce these gourds. They are not eaten by humans, but I guess you can do something and feed the inside to cows. The outside you can use as a cup, or other handy thing; although, if you have a lot of these things, you will have a lot of extra in your property. We went hiking behind a farm, with a bunch of cows. Under one of the tree there was a huge pile of the gourds, leftover from when they made the cow-food. It was pretty interesting to see, one person described it as looking like a pile of baby skulls, but I used “Honduras bubble wrap” because you get the same fun sensation when you step on them as when you pop bubble wrap.
Tuesday afternoon, we repeated part of the hike. We walked the microwatershed boundary with GPSs and later plotted it on the computer. Now, I am not sure why training is arranged the way it is. There were three or four days on how to use an abney level (which trust me is easy) and 20 minutes on how to use ArcGIS. I’m not really sure of the reasoning here.
I have been busy the last few days trying to plan my charla for Thursday. We are all giving charlas on trash. My group has decided to split our 45 kids up into three groups, and each of us will have 15 kids for 15 minutes. This is going to be interesting. So, with all the time I have spent on this project, I still don’t know exactly what I am going to do. It’s a little bit of a stressful time. And they announced we are giving more charlas the next week, we have a report due the next week (make that two reports), and this huge design project. Seriously, I have never worked this hard. I get up early and go to bed late. And all that stuff above does not include Spanish homework, or spending time with my family to improve my Spanish that way. Ahh. There is a reason they call it “The toughest job you will ever love.”
Wednesday: Morning classes- same as normal. Next week we are starting the subjunctive!
The fun part was in the afternoon, when we started building forgones. These are stoves that use wood. Materials needed: Dirt, ceramic tile, bricks, a base for the stove to sit on, water, and cow poo. That’s right, we got to play with cow poo. It was actually fun to make the stove. Other people grabbed pictures, so I will steal them later.
Side note: My computer is going nuts right now telling me all kinds of grammar mistakes are here that I know are not problems with grammars. So, if something is wrong, just assume the computer incorrectly self-edited.
I’m so nervous for this charla tomorrow. I had pictured in my mind that I would plan everything I would say, but really, I don’t have much prepared, it’s all going to be winged. I know what I am doing, and most of the words I need. We have another charla next week. Goodie. My Spanish teacher said she would relax the homework until after the charla, but apparently she forgot this statement. As much as I may complain on the blog now and in the future, I am having a good time. There is just so much that we have to learn in such a little time, that each day is crammed with stuff. Two more days until the weekend!
Thursday was a lot easier than I had expected. Juan, Jill and I got together Wednesday night to “practice the charla” but really, we just talked for a whole lot of time, and ran through it once. It was good to talk though because we have all been having the same types of concerns, and it was good to hear that other people were having the same problems, and just to relax for a while.
It was funny though, I set my alarm Thursday morning to go off early so I could prepare my charla. Then, at 5am, I decided to go back to bed. I barley woke up in time, and thus didn’t do the work I needed to do. But, not to worry, the other people in my class were in the same boat, so we used the hour before class to finish up. I didn’t have time to practice.
So, I went with Juan to go talk to the school’s director about which class we were going to so that we could work out the logistics, because we were going to split the kids up and thus needed three separate spaces. It turns out we only got 30 kids, which was good. The beginning was disorganized because we were waiting for someone else to begin their charla so that we could use a classroom. Then it was funny. We introduced ourselves, and had the kids count off by three’s so that we could have three groups. Well, about 18 kids turned out to be number ones. We had to force kids to be other numbers. My charla turned out to be outside which was interesting. In this school, they have two fifteen minute breaks, and the classes all have a little different schedule so at any given time there are a bunch of kids running around. Thus, I had to keep my kids entertained and ward off distractions caused by the other kids. The charla went really well though. My topic was recycling. At first I set them down in a circle-ish type shape (they are 4th grade students who are looking at a strange gringa), and asked a few questions. Now, we had been warned not to expect kids to come right out and answer questions, so I was a littler nervous about this, but immediately they started answering questions. Then I talked for a little bit. Then the fun activity. I had them make things out of trash. The day before I had walked by my house and picked up trash (bottles, bags, cartons) and brought some newspaper and said we were having a competition to make things out of the trash. I was nervous about how the kids would react to playing with the trash (although I cleaned all of it), but they just dove in. I was happy. The second group also went well. The third group I had a challenge with because they were really rowdy. I even had them change where they were sitting one time to try and get them to pay attention, but they were still rowdy. I was really glad that my Spanish teacher was not watching at that point in time.
In the afternoon we finished the stoves. I want to walk by at some point to see it after a few days, but it is really far from here. I was smelling horse manure all night though. Speaking of night, my friend Kalin visited me last night. Her host nephew was sick so the family went to the doctor which is right across the street from me. She gets to play with an 8 month old baby every night, I as jealous.
Friday
Today we helped participate in the “Dia de limpieza” which is where the students clean the town. Normally there is a lot of sweeping the streets near the school, but since we had just given trash charlas, we cleaned up trash from around the community. My class (which just happened to be the same class as the day before) wasn’t really feeling it, so we were gone for a half hour. Later I helped with the organization of collecting the classes’ trash. The bottles are being stored for a week, then a guy is coming to buy them (since they are worth money), the rest of it is being brought to the totally unsanitary landfill close to the river. Nothing much we can do about that.
That afternoon we learned how to do a nursery project in our communities. Another day of being covered in dust, it was just what I wanted. It was good though, I was in a really sour mood though and this didn’t speak as much Spanish as I should have. After dinner, I went to watch a movie with everyone else in town. I couldn’t attend the last two events, so I made sure I went to this one. I felt really bad though, because I got home at late. My Mom was asleep in the hammock waiting for me to get home so she could barricade the front door (really there are just locks on the inside), and she couldn’t do that until I got home. Normally they are awake at that time, but the whole family had gone to bed. I felt bad, although I did let them know to expect me at around that time.
Saturday
Saturday afternoon was spent trying to try and finish the water system in La Palma. Nothing much happened all day.
Sunday
Sunday was spent splitting trying to finish the La Palma project, working with someone who is giving a arcGIS training this week, and trying to do homework. So, pretty much it was a chill weekend.
So, I am chilling out right now, putting off washing my jeans (which are the hardest to wash by the way), and I was flipping through some of my pics on the computer. I have to say, I am really glad that I am doing peace corps now, and in a country with electricity. I can’t imagine only having my little photo album for pictures. It really helps just to remember the good times of the past and everyone that loves you in the states. Now, that does sound rather sentimental for me, so just to let you all know, I am doing fine. It was a stressful week, and the fact that there is less than a month of training to go is kind of scary. The last week of training we have a class whose title is mental health. I think this will cover how not to get depressed when we are without each other living in our sites. Also, I have heard that there is a one year slump, where are a lot of people get the urge to leave. Then there is the fact that you leave here, which is hard because you know you will probably never see anyone from here again, and they have taught you so much.
So, funny story: after writing the above my host siblings came over and I started going through some of my pics on my computer with them. After a while we hit the folder for my sister’s wedding. We came upon a photo of just Megg and I, and since I am always getting commented on how white I am, I pointed out that she is more white than I. Congratulations Megg, you have been called “Super White.” Not just really white, or the whitest in your group, you have reached the upper reaches to super white. I look tropical now compared to you with my little bit of a tan.
I think it has been a little while since I have typed up a good food story, so let me think what I can come up with. I found a place last week that sells the sundae cone things, which might be the place where all of my money gets spent. Oh, I eat popcorn now. I didn’t really dislike it in the states, it just wasn’t good enough to eat normally. Now, I get served giant bowls occasionally. How do you eat it with a ton of butter? I have to choke down those pieces. Breakfast might be my favorite meal of the day. Not that it varies too much from dinner or lunch occasionally, but I like it. I didn’t like too many traditional breakfast foods in the states, so the fact that I get tortillas con queso in the morning is just fine with me. A few days ago I got corn flakes for breakfast. I could smell the corn flakes and hot milk when I came down the stairs and had to prepare my stomach for what I was going to do to it. I ate corn flakes a lot in Las Cañadas, but here my stomach has gotten used to better. For lunch today I got soup, with some mystery objects in it. It was funny though because I started sweating while eating because of the steam coming off the bowl, and my Mom apologized for making me sweat. It was cute.
This week we start learning the subjunctive! Really I don’t understand it right now, but that’s what I have classes for. I think that after we cover basic present subjunctive I am going to start writing in my journal in Spanish for extra practice. I just know right now that I normally write and think a lot of sentences that need the subjunctive (or so the teachers have told me when they said I can’t say that sentence without the subjunctive). It should be interesting. It’s the present and past in subjunctive, and that’s really all we are going to learn as far as new tenses in Spanish class. I have a feeling that it is going to throw me for a loop though. I am just now getting a handle on the present perfect and past perfect. Oh well, need to get as much grammar in now while I still can.
Two weeks until site announcements!
Well, Easter Sunday was a lot more relaxed than I thought it would be. Since all of my family was still tired from the beach, and therefore nothing was ever said about mass. At least I think that was the reason. Well, Sunday night my sister asked me if I wanted to go, and I said yes, and it only turned out to be me and her going to mass that night. The church is really pretty at night.
Monday we went on a hike in the afternoon. There are these trees here in Honduras which produce these gourds. They are not eaten by humans, but I guess you can do something and feed the inside to cows. The outside you can use as a cup, or other handy thing; although, if you have a lot of these things, you will have a lot of extra in your property. We went hiking behind a farm, with a bunch of cows. Under one of the tree there was a huge pile of the gourds, leftover from when they made the cow-food. It was pretty interesting to see, one person described it as looking like a pile of baby skulls, but I used “Honduras bubble wrap” because you get the same fun sensation when you step on them as when you pop bubble wrap.
Tuesday afternoon, we repeated part of the hike. We walked the microwatershed boundary with GPSs and later plotted it on the computer. Now, I am not sure why training is arranged the way it is. There were three or four days on how to use an abney level (which trust me is easy) and 20 minutes on how to use ArcGIS. I’m not really sure of the reasoning here.
I have been busy the last few days trying to plan my charla for Thursday. We are all giving charlas on trash. My group has decided to split our 45 kids up into three groups, and each of us will have 15 kids for 15 minutes. This is going to be interesting. So, with all the time I have spent on this project, I still don’t know exactly what I am going to do. It’s a little bit of a stressful time. And they announced we are giving more charlas the next week, we have a report due the next week (make that two reports), and this huge design project. Seriously, I have never worked this hard. I get up early and go to bed late. And all that stuff above does not include Spanish homework, or spending time with my family to improve my Spanish that way. Ahh. There is a reason they call it “The toughest job you will ever love.”
Wednesday: Morning classes- same as normal. Next week we are starting the subjunctive!
The fun part was in the afternoon, when we started building forgones. These are stoves that use wood. Materials needed: Dirt, ceramic tile, bricks, a base for the stove to sit on, water, and cow poo. That’s right, we got to play with cow poo. It was actually fun to make the stove. Other people grabbed pictures, so I will steal them later.
Side note: My computer is going nuts right now telling me all kinds of grammar mistakes are here that I know are not problems with grammars. So, if something is wrong, just assume the computer incorrectly self-edited.
I’m so nervous for this charla tomorrow. I had pictured in my mind that I would plan everything I would say, but really, I don’t have much prepared, it’s all going to be winged. I know what I am doing, and most of the words I need. We have another charla next week. Goodie. My Spanish teacher said she would relax the homework until after the charla, but apparently she forgot this statement. As much as I may complain on the blog now and in the future, I am having a good time. There is just so much that we have to learn in such a little time, that each day is crammed with stuff. Two more days until the weekend!
Thursday was a lot easier than I had expected. Juan, Jill and I got together Wednesday night to “practice the charla” but really, we just talked for a whole lot of time, and ran through it once. It was good to talk though because we have all been having the same types of concerns, and it was good to hear that other people were having the same problems, and just to relax for a while.
It was funny though, I set my alarm Thursday morning to go off early so I could prepare my charla. Then, at 5am, I decided to go back to bed. I barley woke up in time, and thus didn’t do the work I needed to do. But, not to worry, the other people in my class were in the same boat, so we used the hour before class to finish up. I didn’t have time to practice.
So, I went with Juan to go talk to the school’s director about which class we were going to so that we could work out the logistics, because we were going to split the kids up and thus needed three separate spaces. It turns out we only got 30 kids, which was good. The beginning was disorganized because we were waiting for someone else to begin their charla so that we could use a classroom. Then it was funny. We introduced ourselves, and had the kids count off by three’s so that we could have three groups. Well, about 18 kids turned out to be number ones. We had to force kids to be other numbers. My charla turned out to be outside which was interesting. In this school, they have two fifteen minute breaks, and the classes all have a little different schedule so at any given time there are a bunch of kids running around. Thus, I had to keep my kids entertained and ward off distractions caused by the other kids. The charla went really well though. My topic was recycling. At first I set them down in a circle-ish type shape (they are 4th grade students who are looking at a strange gringa), and asked a few questions. Now, we had been warned not to expect kids to come right out and answer questions, so I was a littler nervous about this, but immediately they started answering questions. Then I talked for a little bit. Then the fun activity. I had them make things out of trash. The day before I had walked by my house and picked up trash (bottles, bags, cartons) and brought some newspaper and said we were having a competition to make things out of the trash. I was nervous about how the kids would react to playing with the trash (although I cleaned all of it), but they just dove in. I was happy. The second group also went well. The third group I had a challenge with because they were really rowdy. I even had them change where they were sitting one time to try and get them to pay attention, but they were still rowdy. I was really glad that my Spanish teacher was not watching at that point in time.
In the afternoon we finished the stoves. I want to walk by at some point to see it after a few days, but it is really far from here. I was smelling horse manure all night though. Speaking of night, my friend Kalin visited me last night. Her host nephew was sick so the family went to the doctor which is right across the street from me. She gets to play with an 8 month old baby every night, I as jealous.
Friday
Today we helped participate in the “Dia de limpieza” which is where the students clean the town. Normally there is a lot of sweeping the streets near the school, but since we had just given trash charlas, we cleaned up trash from around the community. My class (which just happened to be the same class as the day before) wasn’t really feeling it, so we were gone for a half hour. Later I helped with the organization of collecting the classes’ trash. The bottles are being stored for a week, then a guy is coming to buy them (since they are worth money), the rest of it is being brought to the totally unsanitary landfill close to the river. Nothing much we can do about that.
That afternoon we learned how to do a nursery project in our communities. Another day of being covered in dust, it was just what I wanted. It was good though, I was in a really sour mood though and this didn’t speak as much Spanish as I should have. After dinner, I went to watch a movie with everyone else in town. I couldn’t attend the last two events, so I made sure I went to this one. I felt really bad though, because I got home at late. My Mom was asleep in the hammock waiting for me to get home so she could barricade the front door (really there are just locks on the inside), and she couldn’t do that until I got home. Normally they are awake at that time, but the whole family had gone to bed. I felt bad, although I did let them know to expect me at around that time.
Saturday
Saturday afternoon was spent trying to try and finish the water system in La Palma. Nothing much happened all day.
Sunday
Sunday was spent splitting trying to finish the La Palma project, working with someone who is giving a arcGIS training this week, and trying to do homework. So, pretty much it was a chill weekend.
So, I am chilling out right now, putting off washing my jeans (which are the hardest to wash by the way), and I was flipping through some of my pics on the computer. I have to say, I am really glad that I am doing peace corps now, and in a country with electricity. I can’t imagine only having my little photo album for pictures. It really helps just to remember the good times of the past and everyone that loves you in the states. Now, that does sound rather sentimental for me, so just to let you all know, I am doing fine. It was a stressful week, and the fact that there is less than a month of training to go is kind of scary. The last week of training we have a class whose title is mental health. I think this will cover how not to get depressed when we are without each other living in our sites. Also, I have heard that there is a one year slump, where are a lot of people get the urge to leave. Then there is the fact that you leave here, which is hard because you know you will probably never see anyone from here again, and they have taught you so much.
So, funny story: after writing the above my host siblings came over and I started going through some of my pics on my computer with them. After a while we hit the folder for my sister’s wedding. We came upon a photo of just Megg and I, and since I am always getting commented on how white I am, I pointed out that she is more white than I. Congratulations Megg, you have been called “Super White.” Not just really white, or the whitest in your group, you have reached the upper reaches to super white. I look tropical now compared to you with my little bit of a tan.
I think it has been a little while since I have typed up a good food story, so let me think what I can come up with. I found a place last week that sells the sundae cone things, which might be the place where all of my money gets spent. Oh, I eat popcorn now. I didn’t really dislike it in the states, it just wasn’t good enough to eat normally. Now, I get served giant bowls occasionally. How do you eat it with a ton of butter? I have to choke down those pieces. Breakfast might be my favorite meal of the day. Not that it varies too much from dinner or lunch occasionally, but I like it. I didn’t like too many traditional breakfast foods in the states, so the fact that I get tortillas con queso in the morning is just fine with me. A few days ago I got corn flakes for breakfast. I could smell the corn flakes and hot milk when I came down the stairs and had to prepare my stomach for what I was going to do to it. I ate corn flakes a lot in Las Cañadas, but here my stomach has gotten used to better. For lunch today I got soup, with some mystery objects in it. It was funny though because I started sweating while eating because of the steam coming off the bowl, and my Mom apologized for making me sweat. It was cute.
This week we start learning the subjunctive! Really I don’t understand it right now, but that’s what I have classes for. I think that after we cover basic present subjunctive I am going to start writing in my journal in Spanish for extra practice. I just know right now that I normally write and think a lot of sentences that need the subjunctive (or so the teachers have told me when they said I can’t say that sentence without the subjunctive). It should be interesting. It’s the present and past in subjunctive, and that’s really all we are going to learn as far as new tenses in Spanish class. I have a feeling that it is going to throw me for a loop though. I am just now getting a handle on the present perfect and past perfect. Oh well, need to get as much grammar in now while I still can.
Two weeks until site announcements!
Sunday, April 12, 2009
This time I am not even going to try to guesstimate what day I am going to the internet café (or which day they will have electricity). Also, I have written this over several days, so it probably is going to be an interesting read trying to remember what day is which. Please note that this is really long. So, here is what I have been up to lately:
Saturday:
So, there are more pictures to go with the last blog, I went to use the wireless internet at ADEPES, and just as I was adding the last pictures I got kicked offline. I then used the autosave feature, during my call home I asked Mom to past the last saved draft. I was too annoyed with the internet to try to get back online that day.
Later in the afternoon my host sisters that live in Tegucigalpa arrived home. I had only met them for two or three hours the first day. I’m still new to them, so that was fine because they had all kinds of questions.
Sunday I went to the church with my host Mom and sister (one of the ones from Teguc- Saydi). We arrived really late though. It was the first Sunday of Semana Santa (Holy Week-Psalm Sunday?) here and the church was packed! There were people literally standing for two hours in the church and people spilling out the back door. The people from the aldeas come in to town, plus a lot of people here have their families visit for the week. There were just a ton of people everywhere. I wish I had brought my camera. We missed the procession in the morning, which worked out because we didn’t have to stand for two hours like other aspirantes.
After church I tried not to melt for a little while. In the afternoon we went to the river. My Mom, three sisters and little brother and I went to the river. Only Jorgito and I went swimming though. Though swimming in not quite the right word. We went in the water, although there are shallow parts that are warmer than some hot tubs I have been in, and the deepest it got was 4.5 feet. Plus, there was a lot of people in the river that day. Mostly it was children, and boys under the age of 19. I was incredibly happy though, I didn’t receive a single piropo. I went in with a tank top and shorts, and not a bathing suit to help get that scenario. And it worked! The water is really not the cleanest you have ever been in, but I am here to learn the culture, and swimming in dirty water is sometimes a part of that. Plus, at 105F, I can be willing to swim in water that is less that Grade B.
I got back home and my sisters started cooking dinner. A while later I walked into the kitchen and saw a ton of food on the bar area. There was a huge plate of yucca, a container of Honduran salad, and their pico de gallo like sauce. My though was that its like a buffet style dinner. WRONG! That huge plate of yucca was MINE! My sister looked at me like I had five heads when I asked for a less. She removed one small bit and was like, ok, you’re fine now. I did my best to eat it all, but only could eat half. Then, as I was leaving the table I saw another plate being put down for someone else and realized that a plate that big is normal. Let’s see if I can paint an accurate picture for all of you. Imagine you have a normal dinner plate, cover it with boiled potato chunks, and I mean cover with 1 inch deep chunks, then add a little less than an inch of salad, and then toss on some chopped tomato, onion, and green pepper. Then, you’re close. I felt like taking a picture of the other plate I was so flabbergasted.
Today was actually kind of bland. We had language classes like normal in the morning. Oh, language classes are going to change again next week, because of the new levels and we are getting another teacher here. The business group has a ton of advanced speakers, so they get projects to do instead of classes, and thus don’t need as many teachers as us. Just as soon as I get used to one teacher, classes change. Oh well, I haven’t had a bad experience with any of the teachers, so I’m sure it will fine. I have decided that I have to stop being timid to learn more. One major limitation that I am still facing is my difficulty in understanding the vast majority of Hondurans. So, when people come over to visit, for example, I need to be more outgoing and put myself in the conversation. This is not my forte though. (In Spanish, no es mi Fortaleza)
It was pretty funny earlier though. I had finally stopped sweating after dinner and washing my clothes. I am sitting on the hammock, and my brother comes up to me and asks “Do you want to jump la cuerda?” I left it like this because that’s what I understood. I had to ask what cuerda was. A few minutes later he comes back with a rope. In total it meant do you want to jump rope. It was interesting. We did that for a while, and later I was sweating like crazy again. It is really almost a constant state of being here.
So, I have decided that for the next two years, I will be changing my name. A lot of people here have a hard time pronouncing my name. It appears that Julia, or Judy is easier. Although, I was talking to Michelle during my visit and she said that people had the problem with the J with her aunt, but in this family it is the first I. Right now I answer to any name that begins with a J.
So, I have a cell phone now. The problem is that it is way too expensive to call everyone. While the rates are cheap compared to the US, I don’t make a lot of money (about three dollars a day), and wont be calling most of you any time soon. If you would like to call me, please ask my parents for the number, or email me. I don’t really want to post it as public property on the internet. Keep in mind that I am in class all day, talk to my family at night and have a TON of homework normally as well. Weekends are normally pretty free.
By the way, if anyone has any questions on anything, feel free to leave a comment or email me. I will do my best to answer them.
Tuesday:
Ok, it is a few days later. Nothing too interesting to report on. Tomorrow is cultural day, so there will probably be a big write up about that at some point. Living in Honduras (even the HOT) parts does have some advantages: we are done with classes for the week. The regular schools don’t have any classes during Semana Santa. It’s almost a national vacation week. A lot of people go to visit family, or go to the beach. So, travelling is dangerous (there were several stories last night of people who died Sunday travelling), and there are a lot of people coming in and out of our house. I don’t think we are going to the beach. The beaches down here are just dirty. There is no throwing your trash in a garbage can you just throw it in the ocean next to you. Therefore you are swimming around a lot of trash and the water is very warm. Plus there are a ton of people around. I’m not sorry to be missing out on that experience.
I got seafood soup today. Most of you are thinking I am eating pretty well right now, but I will remind you that I don’t like seafood. I had made up my mind that I was going to try to eat everything here, but when I saw the whole fried fish the other day, I just couldn’t do it. So, my family knows I don’t like fish. But, I was going to try to eat all the other little critters that live in the sea. I mean, I can eat crab in sushi (and yes I do know that most of it is imitation meat) so I figured I could handle it. Then the bowl was sat down in front of me and there was a whole crab right on top. What do you do with that? It’s not a rhetorical question, I have no idea how to eat crab meat from the crab. My experience is limited to crab cakes and sushi. I managed to eat the shrimp like things, and I was grateful I had watched the queer eye for the straight guy episode where they made the guy prepare shrimp, so I knew how to peel the stupid things. I was served the whole shrimp in the soup, so I was trying to figure out how to get the shell and the HEAD off the @#$& thing! I ended up leaving the crab as it was, but the rest I ate.
So, we are supposed to be giving these environmental charlas next week, and there is a rumor floating around that there is going to be a teacher strike next week. Basically, the government has promised the teachers a lot of money, and from what I have heard although I may be wrong, it is awfully slow in coming. When things like this happen, there are strikes. For two years now there have been a lot of strikes. So, we get told today that instead of going into school next week if there is a strike, we have to go find kids and give the charlas to them. Problem: kids that don’t have to go to school, don’t want to listen to gringos giving charlas, and our plan for the day involves having a LOT of kids, and a small group just will not work. It’s a little stressful. Not that we have done a lot of work on the charla.
A lot of people in my group are mad because of all the projects and homeworks we have been given. I am in the lowest group (as far as Spanish learning level) therefore we get the fewest projects. So, I am not drowned in homework, and my family is really tranquilo, so I can just sit down and do my homework at any time, I am not the entertainment here 24/7, so there is a lot of downtime. I wish there was more sleep time though. I am so tired all of the time. I don’t know if it is just too hot to get decent sleep or what. My bed is comfortable, I have a fan blowing on me all night, but I am still not sleeping all that well. All I can think about all day is a nap, although it is definitely too hot for a nap.
Wednesday:
Well, we just had cultural day. It was a good time. Our presentation was thrown together at the last minute. For a week, we were going to do a basic lesson on swing dancing, then for a few days we switched it to the electric slide, but time was running out and we couldn’t get ourselves a copy of the song, so 24 hours beforehand, we switched it to teaching Cotton-Eyed Joe. It is a dance like the electric slide that was very popular at cedar crest while I was there. It is really easy to teach and demonstrate, but I even had my Spanish teacher perplexed on how to write down instructions for it. Today though we only had one Honduran learn it, others just watched. Luckily enough, the other aspirantes stepped up to learn it.
We also had to prepare a Honduran food with our families and share the recipe with everybody. My family and I made arroz con leche. Its really good and easy to make (and easy to explain!). Basically, you add cinnamon bark to your water and heat it up on the stove. While the water is heating up, rinse your rice until the water is clear. When water is hot, add the rice. Now, I am assuming you all know how to cook rice, and how much water you need. When the rice has absorbed all the water, add a bunch of sugar (the don’t skimp on sugar here in Honduras), a little bit of salt, and a whole bunch of milk. This is going to come out looking like a rice soup, there is a lot of milk over the rice. Then, at the end, add a little bit of condensed milk. Then heat for about 10 minutes more and enjoy. Ok, after rereading that, it sounds a little sarcastic, I that I assume business is for those of you playing the online game.
The other activities were: the Bomba song and dance, april fool’s jokes and an explanation about American football. We heard a Honduran song, the song of Pespire, and these dancers did a few traditional folk dances. I got dragged up twice (I didn’t hide far enough in the back after the first time) which was a blast because although I do like to dance, I kind of just do a freestyle solo dance, I don’t understand this whole partner dance thing. It was a good time though. Afterwards while we were cleaning up I even did some swing dancing with Kevin, although because he understand English, I could just tell him to shove me where I needed to go for the dance.
I forgot my camera, so I will be swiping other people’s pictures later. When we got home, I broke out the girl scout cookies and shared with my mom and sister that went with me and said that they are a very important part of American culture.
Afterwards, I took a nap. But, I don’t sleep well in this heat, so I wasn’t refreshed at all. When I woke up (I was sleeping in the hammock in the garage), I looked up and there are five people talking and pretty much waiting for me to get up on the other side of the garage. Afterwards we went straight to the river again. A few cousins are over and they are really patient with me and talked a lot with me.
After supper, my sister Kimberly brought out some photo albums. So, we were talking for a little bit, and I went and broke out my photo album that I brought, and trying to explain my ASB trips was a little interesting. I obviously had to simplify them a lot. Then, I said “In the future if you want to see more photos of the US, I have a lot on my computer.” In spanish, obviously. But, she was like, bring it out now. Well, it was late but I got it up and going. I had a problem on deciding how many to show and which ones to show because I have so many on my computer. I ended up doing Fall Break 2005, Niagara, the great American adventure staring glacier and Yellowstone national parks, and the pics that I have taken so far here. Then it was finally late enough that we split up and I can write a little here before going to bed. Later I am sleeping until I can’t take the heat anymore.
So, just in case you were thinking that life is all easy-breezy here, I would like to tell you a little about some of my recent oops’s here. Now, so understanding Hondurans is something that I am barely starting to be able to do. So, there have been a lot of times where I have mistaken the meaning of the sentence and thus given a very odd answer. Here is one example. I was outside talking to my little brother, my sister Saydi and her novio (remind me to explain this at a later date, but for now, it’s a boyfriend). Well, we were talking about the topo study we did (somehow I can manage this topic in spanish) when I heard “How is it getting there?” Well, I assumed he meant water because we were talking about the water system, so I go into how we are designing the system in the next two weeks, and when he repeats the questions, I’m like, the water is arriving in pipes, we are designing a water system. Well, at this point someone reiterates the question a little more clearly. “How did you get there?” Big difference. Answer now is the Peace Corps mobiles. Oops. My little brother cracked up when I said we got there in pipes.
Then, today, a mere 14 hours after that big miss, we left to go to the river. Now, last time I went in with my host brother. This time he was no where to be seen. My sister kept asking me if I was going to swim, and since none of my sisters went last time I figured I’d be the only one swimming and so I said I didn’t think I would go in. Well, we were walking with two cousins that are visiting. They kept asking me too. We get there, and once they enter, I realized that they were inviting me to swim with them the whole time (although they never said that they were going in). So, I felt like a jerk, again, but went in with them and talked for quite a long time with them. My host sister never went in, so I don’t think my assumption was too off-based. There doesn’t seem to be any repercussions from my little mistakes, which is good. They understand that I don’t speak well and that I make a lot of errors.
So, something that has come to mind now is that I can’t spell in English anymore. Well, some things are becoming natural, and I will say them with ease, and apparently I am doing better at thinking in Spanish than I though because there have been a couple of times tonight where my first instinct was to spell a word the Spanish way. For example, photo came out foto the first time. We were talking about fotos in Spanish for two or more hours, so that came to mind first. There is hope that one day Spanish will be somewhat natural. Its funny though, right before I left I was trying to figure out indirect pronouns and I had no idea what they meant. My first lesson here that I learned them, I immediately got it, and while I don’t use them every time I am supposed to, I think that I use them a lot. So, it’s odd the way the language thing is working out.
Also, Mom has gone through and corrected some of my grammar in the last two blogs. I will restate my thoughts on my grammar. I am writing these entries at odd hours, and usually late at night, like tonight. I am just trying to get as much as possible typed in a small amount of time so that I can finally go to bed. While I want to send a great thanks out to Mom, if there are errors in the blogs, it’s because I am trying to write fast, and am paying a lot more attention to Spanish grammar these days than English grammar. So, please forgive me if I make some funky sentences.
Thursday.
This Semana Santa is really confusing me, I’ve been thinking that it has been Friday for while now. Thursday was interesting. The morning started pretty slow, I apparently took too long crawling out of my room this morning because my cousins came in and got me out. They are really good for me though because they are not going to let me be quiet. A few days ago I was thinking that I need to be outgoing or talk with someone who is really pushy and now I have two cousins that are doing that job. At some point someone told me their names, but I don’t remember them, so later I have to try to be suave about having to be reminded. No one here has said their names though, so I can’t just learn that way.
One funny thing that happened yesterday: I was asked if I wanted to go to San Lorenzo. It is a port town not too far away. I said yes, because I want to see as much as possible. Then a little while later I realized I was going with my sister Saydi, her novio, and the cousins. Problem: I can’t travel outside of Pespire without a parent. Yes it is a very embarrassing situation for a 24 year old to find herself in. So, I try to casually ask my mother if she was going. She knows this rule. She just gets so excited that I am asking her if she is going. She goes on and on about how I am a great daughter because I wont go anywhere without my mother, and how I should be an example to my younger sisters. I am then trying to explain to everyone else in the room that while I am an aspirante (trainee) I can’t travel without a parent. They all looked at me like “That Sucks,” so my Mom came with us. We only went to the supermarket there. I think they had planned to drive by the beach so I could see it, but they had the road closed. The thing here is that it is common to go to the beach during Semana Santa, and since the southern coasts are closer to Teguc than the northern coasts, a lot of people come to the south, and one of the nicer places is San Lorenzo, so there are a lot of people, so they close the road closest to the beach so that people aren’t trying to outcompete each other for the non-existent parking spaces there. Its actually pretty orderly, and not too different then in the states.
Afterwards, after lunch, I was really tired. I was asked if I wanted to go to San Juan Bosque. Well, I declined and said I wanted to rest because I was tired. So I take an hour nap in the hammock. When I woke up my Dad just happened to be passing and he asked me if I wanted to go. Well, now I was awake and said yes. So, I piled into the back seat of the truck with Paola and my two cousins. The road there is like the worst logging road you have ever seen multiplied by a very large number. Driving on these roads is not for the faint of heart. At one point I asked if there was another road into the town and was told that we were on the calle principal or main road.
I was shocked to find a decent sized community there. I was expecting like ten houses, but there is a nice little town there. You would expect it to be very poor, being all out in the middle of nowhere Honduras and all, but everyone was fashionably dressed. I have a ton of family there. My grandmother (88 years old) and her sons live there (8 sons). Then there is a TON of cousins. In total I have like 70ish cousins, but I don’t know any names. It was a good time, I got a few pics, I even got to talk to one uncle for a few minutes about the water system in La Palma.
Friday:
Today has been an interesting day so far. This morning I went into town with my sister Kimberly and two cousins. We chilled out for a while in the park, then we saw the procession. They replicate the hanging of Christ on the cross. Good times. There was a lot of actors in the procession, Christ, a few people being hung with him, the roman guards, a few other random people, and then mourners who followed Christ. The men all had beards painted on their faces, because men don’t grow beards here. They even tie the guys up on crosses and let them hang there for a while. My camera batteries died just before they lifted the cross up. Also, another tradition here is that the people make these big rugs in front of the churches with sand, I have pictures. Pespire is still a town and not a city, so the rug is small and less complicated then in the cities.
That night we went to go visit relatives in an aldea nearby. It was interesting, for a while it was the normal no one talks to Jill, but then my Aunt made the mistake of asking me a question so I moved right next to her and pretty much made her talk to me. The family we visited was the Uncle who visited about a week ago and talked a lot with me, so when he emerged I talked for quite a while.
Saturday:
So, I was told last night that we were going to the beach really early today. I didn’t really believe this because my family is late for everything, but we were actually out the door by 7am. The beach we went to was really pretty. Most of the beaches in the south are really packed during Semana Santa, but this one I guess is a relatively unknown place, and most of the beach is submerged at high tide, so there isn’t a lot of room for people. I had a good time. We played soccer on the beach for a while in the morning with this hard plastic soccer ball and now I have a small welt from blocking the thing.
Around noon the rest of the family came with some friends from Teguc. I had a nice little spanglish conversation going with one of the guys because he knows a little English, and I can only speak a little Spanish. After lunch, there was a little game of beach soccer. I was a little nervous to begin with because it seems like everyone here has soccer in their blood, and yeah, before I got here I hadn’t played soccer in around ten years. It worked out fine though. I made a few good blocks. It was really funny thing though, the ocean was rising, and slowly taking over the soccer field, so when the ball went to one side, people were playing in the surf, and there was a lot of falling bodies, and the ball does not act the same way in the ocean as on land. When the water level was too high, we adjourned to go swimming.
Pretty quickly we started playing a game of keep away guys vs girls. Too soon it became a game of attack the person with the ball, which was a problem for my 11 year old brother. The funny thing was, it was his mother that was going after him! I had good time at the beach. I found out that my family only goes to the beach one day during semana santa. So, I was surprised at how well they could swim, although they weren’t too comfortable, they had the basic motions. At one point the ball went really far out, and I was expecting the guy who was closest to go get it, but no one moved, and that’s when I realized, no one was to comfortable in the deep, so I went for it. My host Mom later told me that she was really worried the whole time I was swimming for it. It only took like four minutes if that to swim out to it and return. I tried teaching people how to swim, but didn’t do a very good job. I got one person floating though.
So, you may be thinking that Jill just improved three levels in her Spanish, why is she having problems with Spanish. Well, part of it is that I am just not comfortable with speaking in front of most people I get embarassed because I know that I speak with a lot of errors. I don’t really have this problem in my Spanish classes. I have a certain level of “confianza” with my teachers, so I feel free to goof off with them. That was one reason I didn’t like changing classes last time, I didn’t know the new teacher, so I wasn’t very comfortable with him. Well, then I found out that he is really a goofball too, so then I enjoyed my class. I have a new teacher again Monday, I don’t think I will have a problem with her because I have had a tutoring session with her and she seems really cool.
Speaking of Spanish, you may have noticed a bunch of Spanish words floating around here. Part of the Peace Corps goals is to share cultures, so as well as stories, you are getting a little intro into Spanish. Make no mistake about it though, being able to read in Spanish does not mean you can understand the language or even speak it, which is the problem I am running into.
The internet is way too slow to post pictures today.
Saturday:
So, there are more pictures to go with the last blog, I went to use the wireless internet at ADEPES, and just as I was adding the last pictures I got kicked offline. I then used the autosave feature, during my call home I asked Mom to past the last saved draft. I was too annoyed with the internet to try to get back online that day.
Later in the afternoon my host sisters that live in Tegucigalpa arrived home. I had only met them for two or three hours the first day. I’m still new to them, so that was fine because they had all kinds of questions.
Sunday I went to the church with my host Mom and sister (one of the ones from Teguc- Saydi). We arrived really late though. It was the first Sunday of Semana Santa (Holy Week-Psalm Sunday?) here and the church was packed! There were people literally standing for two hours in the church and people spilling out the back door. The people from the aldeas come in to town, plus a lot of people here have their families visit for the week. There were just a ton of people everywhere. I wish I had brought my camera. We missed the procession in the morning, which worked out because we didn’t have to stand for two hours like other aspirantes.
After church I tried not to melt for a little while. In the afternoon we went to the river. My Mom, three sisters and little brother and I went to the river. Only Jorgito and I went swimming though. Though swimming in not quite the right word. We went in the water, although there are shallow parts that are warmer than some hot tubs I have been in, and the deepest it got was 4.5 feet. Plus, there was a lot of people in the river that day. Mostly it was children, and boys under the age of 19. I was incredibly happy though, I didn’t receive a single piropo. I went in with a tank top and shorts, and not a bathing suit to help get that scenario. And it worked! The water is really not the cleanest you have ever been in, but I am here to learn the culture, and swimming in dirty water is sometimes a part of that. Plus, at 105F, I can be willing to swim in water that is less that Grade B.
I got back home and my sisters started cooking dinner. A while later I walked into the kitchen and saw a ton of food on the bar area. There was a huge plate of yucca, a container of Honduran salad, and their pico de gallo like sauce. My though was that its like a buffet style dinner. WRONG! That huge plate of yucca was MINE! My sister looked at me like I had five heads when I asked for a less. She removed one small bit and was like, ok, you’re fine now. I did my best to eat it all, but only could eat half. Then, as I was leaving the table I saw another plate being put down for someone else and realized that a plate that big is normal. Let’s see if I can paint an accurate picture for all of you. Imagine you have a normal dinner plate, cover it with boiled potato chunks, and I mean cover with 1 inch deep chunks, then add a little less than an inch of salad, and then toss on some chopped tomato, onion, and green pepper. Then, you’re close. I felt like taking a picture of the other plate I was so flabbergasted.
Today was actually kind of bland. We had language classes like normal in the morning. Oh, language classes are going to change again next week, because of the new levels and we are getting another teacher here. The business group has a ton of advanced speakers, so they get projects to do instead of classes, and thus don’t need as many teachers as us. Just as soon as I get used to one teacher, classes change. Oh well, I haven’t had a bad experience with any of the teachers, so I’m sure it will fine. I have decided that I have to stop being timid to learn more. One major limitation that I am still facing is my difficulty in understanding the vast majority of Hondurans. So, when people come over to visit, for example, I need to be more outgoing and put myself in the conversation. This is not my forte though. (In Spanish, no es mi Fortaleza)
It was pretty funny earlier though. I had finally stopped sweating after dinner and washing my clothes. I am sitting on the hammock, and my brother comes up to me and asks “Do you want to jump la cuerda?” I left it like this because that’s what I understood. I had to ask what cuerda was. A few minutes later he comes back with a rope. In total it meant do you want to jump rope. It was interesting. We did that for a while, and later I was sweating like crazy again. It is really almost a constant state of being here.
So, I have decided that for the next two years, I will be changing my name. A lot of people here have a hard time pronouncing my name. It appears that Julia, or Judy is easier. Although, I was talking to Michelle during my visit and she said that people had the problem with the J with her aunt, but in this family it is the first I. Right now I answer to any name that begins with a J.
So, I have a cell phone now. The problem is that it is way too expensive to call everyone. While the rates are cheap compared to the US, I don’t make a lot of money (about three dollars a day), and wont be calling most of you any time soon. If you would like to call me, please ask my parents for the number, or email me. I don’t really want to post it as public property on the internet. Keep in mind that I am in class all day, talk to my family at night and have a TON of homework normally as well. Weekends are normally pretty free.
By the way, if anyone has any questions on anything, feel free to leave a comment or email me. I will do my best to answer them.
Tuesday:
Ok, it is a few days later. Nothing too interesting to report on. Tomorrow is cultural day, so there will probably be a big write up about that at some point. Living in Honduras (even the HOT) parts does have some advantages: we are done with classes for the week. The regular schools don’t have any classes during Semana Santa. It’s almost a national vacation week. A lot of people go to visit family, or go to the beach. So, travelling is dangerous (there were several stories last night of people who died Sunday travelling), and there are a lot of people coming in and out of our house. I don’t think we are going to the beach. The beaches down here are just dirty. There is no throwing your trash in a garbage can you just throw it in the ocean next to you. Therefore you are swimming around a lot of trash and the water is very warm. Plus there are a ton of people around. I’m not sorry to be missing out on that experience.
I got seafood soup today. Most of you are thinking I am eating pretty well right now, but I will remind you that I don’t like seafood. I had made up my mind that I was going to try to eat everything here, but when I saw the whole fried fish the other day, I just couldn’t do it. So, my family knows I don’t like fish. But, I was going to try to eat all the other little critters that live in the sea. I mean, I can eat crab in sushi (and yes I do know that most of it is imitation meat) so I figured I could handle it. Then the bowl was sat down in front of me and there was a whole crab right on top. What do you do with that? It’s not a rhetorical question, I have no idea how to eat crab meat from the crab. My experience is limited to crab cakes and sushi. I managed to eat the shrimp like things, and I was grateful I had watched the queer eye for the straight guy episode where they made the guy prepare shrimp, so I knew how to peel the stupid things. I was served the whole shrimp in the soup, so I was trying to figure out how to get the shell and the HEAD off the @#$& thing! I ended up leaving the crab as it was, but the rest I ate.
So, we are supposed to be giving these environmental charlas next week, and there is a rumor floating around that there is going to be a teacher strike next week. Basically, the government has promised the teachers a lot of money, and from what I have heard although I may be wrong, it is awfully slow in coming. When things like this happen, there are strikes. For two years now there have been a lot of strikes. So, we get told today that instead of going into school next week if there is a strike, we have to go find kids and give the charlas to them. Problem: kids that don’t have to go to school, don’t want to listen to gringos giving charlas, and our plan for the day involves having a LOT of kids, and a small group just will not work. It’s a little stressful. Not that we have done a lot of work on the charla.
A lot of people in my group are mad because of all the projects and homeworks we have been given. I am in the lowest group (as far as Spanish learning level) therefore we get the fewest projects. So, I am not drowned in homework, and my family is really tranquilo, so I can just sit down and do my homework at any time, I am not the entertainment here 24/7, so there is a lot of downtime. I wish there was more sleep time though. I am so tired all of the time. I don’t know if it is just too hot to get decent sleep or what. My bed is comfortable, I have a fan blowing on me all night, but I am still not sleeping all that well. All I can think about all day is a nap, although it is definitely too hot for a nap.
Wednesday:
Well, we just had cultural day. It was a good time. Our presentation was thrown together at the last minute. For a week, we were going to do a basic lesson on swing dancing, then for a few days we switched it to the electric slide, but time was running out and we couldn’t get ourselves a copy of the song, so 24 hours beforehand, we switched it to teaching Cotton-Eyed Joe. It is a dance like the electric slide that was very popular at cedar crest while I was there. It is really easy to teach and demonstrate, but I even had my Spanish teacher perplexed on how to write down instructions for it. Today though we only had one Honduran learn it, others just watched. Luckily enough, the other aspirantes stepped up to learn it.
We also had to prepare a Honduran food with our families and share the recipe with everybody. My family and I made arroz con leche. Its really good and easy to make (and easy to explain!). Basically, you add cinnamon bark to your water and heat it up on the stove. While the water is heating up, rinse your rice until the water is clear. When water is hot, add the rice. Now, I am assuming you all know how to cook rice, and how much water you need. When the rice has absorbed all the water, add a bunch of sugar (the don’t skimp on sugar here in Honduras), a little bit of salt, and a whole bunch of milk. This is going to come out looking like a rice soup, there is a lot of milk over the rice. Then, at the end, add a little bit of condensed milk. Then heat for about 10 minutes more and enjoy. Ok, after rereading that, it sounds a little sarcastic, I that I assume business is for those of you playing the online game.
The other activities were: the Bomba song and dance, april fool’s jokes and an explanation about American football. We heard a Honduran song, the song of Pespire, and these dancers did a few traditional folk dances. I got dragged up twice (I didn’t hide far enough in the back after the first time) which was a blast because although I do like to dance, I kind of just do a freestyle solo dance, I don’t understand this whole partner dance thing. It was a good time though. Afterwards while we were cleaning up I even did some swing dancing with Kevin, although because he understand English, I could just tell him to shove me where I needed to go for the dance.
I forgot my camera, so I will be swiping other people’s pictures later. When we got home, I broke out the girl scout cookies and shared with my mom and sister that went with me and said that they are a very important part of American culture.
Afterwards, I took a nap. But, I don’t sleep well in this heat, so I wasn’t refreshed at all. When I woke up (I was sleeping in the hammock in the garage), I looked up and there are five people talking and pretty much waiting for me to get up on the other side of the garage. Afterwards we went straight to the river again. A few cousins are over and they are really patient with me and talked a lot with me.
After supper, my sister Kimberly brought out some photo albums. So, we were talking for a little bit, and I went and broke out my photo album that I brought, and trying to explain my ASB trips was a little interesting. I obviously had to simplify them a lot. Then, I said “In the future if you want to see more photos of the US, I have a lot on my computer.” In spanish, obviously. But, she was like, bring it out now. Well, it was late but I got it up and going. I had a problem on deciding how many to show and which ones to show because I have so many on my computer. I ended up doing Fall Break 2005, Niagara, the great American adventure staring glacier and Yellowstone national parks, and the pics that I have taken so far here. Then it was finally late enough that we split up and I can write a little here before going to bed. Later I am sleeping until I can’t take the heat anymore.
So, just in case you were thinking that life is all easy-breezy here, I would like to tell you a little about some of my recent oops’s here. Now, so understanding Hondurans is something that I am barely starting to be able to do. So, there have been a lot of times where I have mistaken the meaning of the sentence and thus given a very odd answer. Here is one example. I was outside talking to my little brother, my sister Saydi and her novio (remind me to explain this at a later date, but for now, it’s a boyfriend). Well, we were talking about the topo study we did (somehow I can manage this topic in spanish) when I heard “How is it getting there?” Well, I assumed he meant water because we were talking about the water system, so I go into how we are designing the system in the next two weeks, and when he repeats the questions, I’m like, the water is arriving in pipes, we are designing a water system. Well, at this point someone reiterates the question a little more clearly. “How did you get there?” Big difference. Answer now is the Peace Corps mobiles. Oops. My little brother cracked up when I said we got there in pipes.
Then, today, a mere 14 hours after that big miss, we left to go to the river. Now, last time I went in with my host brother. This time he was no where to be seen. My sister kept asking me if I was going to swim, and since none of my sisters went last time I figured I’d be the only one swimming and so I said I didn’t think I would go in. Well, we were walking with two cousins that are visiting. They kept asking me too. We get there, and once they enter, I realized that they were inviting me to swim with them the whole time (although they never said that they were going in). So, I felt like a jerk, again, but went in with them and talked for quite a long time with them. My host sister never went in, so I don’t think my assumption was too off-based. There doesn’t seem to be any repercussions from my little mistakes, which is good. They understand that I don’t speak well and that I make a lot of errors.
So, something that has come to mind now is that I can’t spell in English anymore. Well, some things are becoming natural, and I will say them with ease, and apparently I am doing better at thinking in Spanish than I though because there have been a couple of times tonight where my first instinct was to spell a word the Spanish way. For example, photo came out foto the first time. We were talking about fotos in Spanish for two or more hours, so that came to mind first. There is hope that one day Spanish will be somewhat natural. Its funny though, right before I left I was trying to figure out indirect pronouns and I had no idea what they meant. My first lesson here that I learned them, I immediately got it, and while I don’t use them every time I am supposed to, I think that I use them a lot. So, it’s odd the way the language thing is working out.
Also, Mom has gone through and corrected some of my grammar in the last two blogs. I will restate my thoughts on my grammar. I am writing these entries at odd hours, and usually late at night, like tonight. I am just trying to get as much as possible typed in a small amount of time so that I can finally go to bed. While I want to send a great thanks out to Mom, if there are errors in the blogs, it’s because I am trying to write fast, and am paying a lot more attention to Spanish grammar these days than English grammar. So, please forgive me if I make some funky sentences.
Thursday.
This Semana Santa is really confusing me, I’ve been thinking that it has been Friday for while now. Thursday was interesting. The morning started pretty slow, I apparently took too long crawling out of my room this morning because my cousins came in and got me out. They are really good for me though because they are not going to let me be quiet. A few days ago I was thinking that I need to be outgoing or talk with someone who is really pushy and now I have two cousins that are doing that job. At some point someone told me their names, but I don’t remember them, so later I have to try to be suave about having to be reminded. No one here has said their names though, so I can’t just learn that way.
One funny thing that happened yesterday: I was asked if I wanted to go to San Lorenzo. It is a port town not too far away. I said yes, because I want to see as much as possible. Then a little while later I realized I was going with my sister Saydi, her novio, and the cousins. Problem: I can’t travel outside of Pespire without a parent. Yes it is a very embarrassing situation for a 24 year old to find herself in. So, I try to casually ask my mother if she was going. She knows this rule. She just gets so excited that I am asking her if she is going. She goes on and on about how I am a great daughter because I wont go anywhere without my mother, and how I should be an example to my younger sisters. I am then trying to explain to everyone else in the room that while I am an aspirante (trainee) I can’t travel without a parent. They all looked at me like “That Sucks,” so my Mom came with us. We only went to the supermarket there. I think they had planned to drive by the beach so I could see it, but they had the road closed. The thing here is that it is common to go to the beach during Semana Santa, and since the southern coasts are closer to Teguc than the northern coasts, a lot of people come to the south, and one of the nicer places is San Lorenzo, so there are a lot of people, so they close the road closest to the beach so that people aren’t trying to outcompete each other for the non-existent parking spaces there. Its actually pretty orderly, and not too different then in the states.
Afterwards, after lunch, I was really tired. I was asked if I wanted to go to San Juan Bosque. Well, I declined and said I wanted to rest because I was tired. So I take an hour nap in the hammock. When I woke up my Dad just happened to be passing and he asked me if I wanted to go. Well, now I was awake and said yes. So, I piled into the back seat of the truck with Paola and my two cousins. The road there is like the worst logging road you have ever seen multiplied by a very large number. Driving on these roads is not for the faint of heart. At one point I asked if there was another road into the town and was told that we were on the calle principal or main road.
I was shocked to find a decent sized community there. I was expecting like ten houses, but there is a nice little town there. You would expect it to be very poor, being all out in the middle of nowhere Honduras and all, but everyone was fashionably dressed. I have a ton of family there. My grandmother (88 years old) and her sons live there (8 sons). Then there is a TON of cousins. In total I have like 70ish cousins, but I don’t know any names. It was a good time, I got a few pics, I even got to talk to one uncle for a few minutes about the water system in La Palma.
Friday:
Today has been an interesting day so far. This morning I went into town with my sister Kimberly and two cousins. We chilled out for a while in the park, then we saw the procession. They replicate the hanging of Christ on the cross. Good times. There was a lot of actors in the procession, Christ, a few people being hung with him, the roman guards, a few other random people, and then mourners who followed Christ. The men all had beards painted on their faces, because men don’t grow beards here. They even tie the guys up on crosses and let them hang there for a while. My camera batteries died just before they lifted the cross up. Also, another tradition here is that the people make these big rugs in front of the churches with sand, I have pictures. Pespire is still a town and not a city, so the rug is small and less complicated then in the cities.
That night we went to go visit relatives in an aldea nearby. It was interesting, for a while it was the normal no one talks to Jill, but then my Aunt made the mistake of asking me a question so I moved right next to her and pretty much made her talk to me. The family we visited was the Uncle who visited about a week ago and talked a lot with me, so when he emerged I talked for quite a while.
Saturday:
So, I was told last night that we were going to the beach really early today. I didn’t really believe this because my family is late for everything, but we were actually out the door by 7am. The beach we went to was really pretty. Most of the beaches in the south are really packed during Semana Santa, but this one I guess is a relatively unknown place, and most of the beach is submerged at high tide, so there isn’t a lot of room for people. I had a good time. We played soccer on the beach for a while in the morning with this hard plastic soccer ball and now I have a small welt from blocking the thing.
Around noon the rest of the family came with some friends from Teguc. I had a nice little spanglish conversation going with one of the guys because he knows a little English, and I can only speak a little Spanish. After lunch, there was a little game of beach soccer. I was a little nervous to begin with because it seems like everyone here has soccer in their blood, and yeah, before I got here I hadn’t played soccer in around ten years. It worked out fine though. I made a few good blocks. It was really funny thing though, the ocean was rising, and slowly taking over the soccer field, so when the ball went to one side, people were playing in the surf, and there was a lot of falling bodies, and the ball does not act the same way in the ocean as on land. When the water level was too high, we adjourned to go swimming.
Pretty quickly we started playing a game of keep away guys vs girls. Too soon it became a game of attack the person with the ball, which was a problem for my 11 year old brother. The funny thing was, it was his mother that was going after him! I had good time at the beach. I found out that my family only goes to the beach one day during semana santa. So, I was surprised at how well they could swim, although they weren’t too comfortable, they had the basic motions. At one point the ball went really far out, and I was expecting the guy who was closest to go get it, but no one moved, and that’s when I realized, no one was to comfortable in the deep, so I went for it. My host Mom later told me that she was really worried the whole time I was swimming for it. It only took like four minutes if that to swim out to it and return. I tried teaching people how to swim, but didn’t do a very good job. I got one person floating though.
So, you may be thinking that Jill just improved three levels in her Spanish, why is she having problems with Spanish. Well, part of it is that I am just not comfortable with speaking in front of most people I get embarassed because I know that I speak with a lot of errors. I don’t really have this problem in my Spanish classes. I have a certain level of “confianza” with my teachers, so I feel free to goof off with them. That was one reason I didn’t like changing classes last time, I didn’t know the new teacher, so I wasn’t very comfortable with him. Well, then I found out that he is really a goofball too, so then I enjoyed my class. I have a new teacher again Monday, I don’t think I will have a problem with her because I have had a tutoring session with her and she seems really cool.
Speaking of Spanish, you may have noticed a bunch of Spanish words floating around here. Part of the Peace Corps goals is to share cultures, so as well as stories, you are getting a little intro into Spanish. Make no mistake about it though, being able to read in Spanish does not mean you can understand the language or even speak it, which is the problem I am running into.
The internet is way too slow to post pictures today.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Updates from the Land of Eternal Heat
Well, yesterday morning's temperature actually started at something approaching comfortable. It was 83F in my room in the morning. People kept saying during class that they almost used a sheet that morning. Almost, but not. It then proceeded to warm up what felt like 20 degrees during our walk to school.
Now, to the pre-written stuff.
Ok, so it is somewhere in the middle of week two in Pespire. I think I am starting to acclimate to the heat, at least a little bit. That doesn’t mean that I am not sweating an awful lot still. I am drinking plenty of fluids though, so I am not worried about dehydration. They have to buy drinking water here, so occasionally I feel really bad about how much I drink, but I really do need that water to remain healthy.
So, the futbol game on Friday. There was a large crowd that gathered in the local hotel. The top floor is this open studio type thing. There is a roof overhead, but the walls are half-wall, so there was a lot of ventilation. They had the game on a large flat screen as well as showing through a projector. Well, I didn’t think that Honduras played all that well. To my eyes it appeared that after they got a their goal, they played it safe, more trying to waste time than play to win and get more goals. Then at the last minute of regular time, the other team scored and tied the game. It was a shame really. I even got to watch the USA game when I got home. Now, that game was really exciting from start to finish because there were a lot of chances both ways. In the second half, the US was down 2-0, and I decided to go to bed because it's hard to come back from a two goal deficit in soccer. But then my family (my host sister was with me but the rest of the family was away) came back and the US had scored a goal after I turned the TV off. Since it was now more competitive and my brother was watching, I stayed up for a while to watch the rest of the game. The US came back in a 2-2 tie by the way. Both the US and Honduras are playing again later today (separate games). This should be interesting because I will be able to watch it with my family and hopefully get some Spanish going throughout the game.
Hmm, Sunday was kind of a boring game. I had bought a skirt here Saturday to help combat the heat. So, Sunday my sister and I went to church (my mom was away again). I wore my skirt to church, and brought a fan I made out of my stationary paper. This church was built by the Spaniards, and had little air movement. Those few times when the breeze came through the church felt amazing. How people can wear old-fashioned dresses and attend services is a mystery to me. I was melting in skirt and blouse. I didn’t understand most of the Mass; the padre used a microphone that was pretty static-y. After church was really funny. There was a travelling bible salesman there and he was giving away these posters of the benediction of Hogar (I’m not Catholic so although I think the name is the same name, I am not sure (note from Mom. I was raised Catholic and never heard of Hogar, so doubt this is right!)). But first people had to listen to his speel on the bibles. The one part I remember is “Why is your TV so big and your bible so small?”
The rest of the day we chilled out- wait- bad choice of words, we just tried to stay on this side of boiling all day. I tried to take a nap but it was just too hot. I watched the end of George of the Jungle, with Brandon Frasier, and the beginning of George of the Jungle 2 (without Brandon Frasier). I also watched the end of the Cinderella sequel. Oh, the fun part of Sunday was the morning. I got woken up by my sister coming to tell me breakfast was ready. Then once I got downstairs, she asked me if she had woken me up. She was shocked to find this out; I mean how could anyone be sleeping at 6:45 a.m. on a Sunday morning? Completely threw her for a loop.
So, the futbol game on Friday. There was a large crowd that gathered in the local hotel. The top floor is this open studio type thing. There is a roof overhead, but the walls are half-wall, so there was a lot of ventilation. They had the game on a large flat screen as well as showing through a projector. Well, I didn’t think that Honduras played all that well. To my eyes it appeared that after they got a their goal, they played it safe, more trying to waste time than play to win and get more goals. Then at the last minute of regular time, the other team scored and tied the game. It was a shame really. I even got to watch the USA game when I got home. Now, that game was really exciting from start to finish because there were a lot of chances both ways. In the second half, the US was down 2-0, and I decided to go to bed because it's hard to come back from a two goal deficit in soccer. But then my family (my host sister was with me but the rest of the family was away) came back and the US had scored a goal after I turned the TV off. Since it was now more competitive and my brother was watching, I stayed up for a while to watch the rest of the game. The US came back in a 2-2 tie by the way. Both the US and Honduras are playing again later today (separate games). This should be interesting because I will be able to watch it with my family and hopefully get some Spanish going throughout the game.
Hmm, Sunday was kind of a boring game. I had bought a skirt here Saturday to help combat the heat. So, Sunday my sister and I went to church (my mom was away again). I wore my skirt to church, and brought a fan I made out of my stationary paper. This church was built by the Spaniards, and had little air movement. Those few times when the breeze came through the church felt amazing. How people can wear old-fashioned dresses and attend services is a mystery to me. I was melting in skirt and blouse. I didn’t understand most of the Mass; the padre used a microphone that was pretty static-y. After church was really funny. There was a travelling bible salesman there and he was giving away these posters of the benediction of Hogar (I’m not Catholic so although I think the name is the same name, I am not sure (note from Mom. I was raised Catholic and never heard of Hogar, so doubt this is right!)). But first people had to listen to his speel on the bibles. The one part I remember is “Why is your TV so big and your bible so small?”
The rest of the day we chilled out- wait- bad choice of words, we just tried to stay on this side of boiling all day. I tried to take a nap but it was just too hot. I watched the end of George of the Jungle, with Brandon Frasier, and the beginning of George of the Jungle 2 (without Brandon Frasier). I also watched the end of the Cinderella sequel. Oh, the fun part of Sunday was the morning. I got woken up by my sister coming to tell me breakfast was ready. Then once I got downstairs, she asked me if she had woken me up. She was shocked to find this out; I mean how could anyone be sleeping at 6:45 a.m. on a Sunday morning? Completely threw her for a loop.
Hmm, Monday we had classes. In the afternoon we had an intro day to the theodolite and total station. I had my tutoring session afterwards and my grammar was pretty awful. I was so tired that I kept throwing an “a” in the middle of a lot of sentences when it shouldn’t be there. Oh well. I was tired. I haven’t been sleeping a lot lately.
This morning I had my first Spanish class with my new class. It was okay. I had my second technical interview today. Technical interviews are really easy. It’s just what do you want to do in your two years here, what kind of site would you like? After my volunteer visit I decided to live in a city, so I re-stated that. I said that I could get used to the heat here. While walking back I ran into Luis (training director) and he complained about the heat, and I told him it was a cool day for Pespire and he was a little shocked. That’s how I realized I was getting used to it here. Back to the interview, I kept giving kind of “I don’t care” answers, or “It doesn’t matter.” Then I realized I don’t like it when I get those kinds of answers, so I explained that I was just trying not to expect one thing, so I won’t be disappointed when I get my site. They seemed to understand that answer.
I got a huge plate of food for lunch. It was Honduran style chop suey. Chop suey in the US was developed as a throw anything you like in there, and call it good, and that tradition has been carried on here. It was a huge plate of Chinese-style (sort of) noodles, hot dog pieces, chicken, corn, peppers, onion, and carrots in an odd sauce. I ate all of that huge plate though. So I think I have gained weight since being here, but I am not sure. I used to gauge my weight by how my jeans fit, but here we line-dry our clothes, so they don’t shrink like normal. I can’t use that anymore. A scale was not on the list of things to pack. I keep joking that I am going to be huge by time I leave here because I eat more than my host Dad at every meal.
In the afternoon we started a topography study. A community near here is getting a water system, and we are designing the system. It is really cool to be designing an actual system during training. It wasn’t too hot out today, so we didn’t roast too bad outside.
In other news, I have my Spanish language interview on Thursday. I am a little nervous for some weird reason. At this point I have no doubt that I will pass the intermediate medium level by the end of training. I just am really dying to find out what my level is now. I don’t know if it's because I want to prove to myself that I am learning (although its pretty obvious) or what. Note from Mom again - got intermediate medium (-)! Almost there and 5 more weeks to do it!
Hmm, I guess life is starting to get a little more normal because I can’t think of a lot of things to write about. So, pictures - in backwards order, sorry!
3. Me using the theodolite during my volunteer visit. I am using one now with the topo study as well, and hope that we switch so I can get some experience with the total station as well.
This morning I had my first Spanish class with my new class. It was okay. I had my second technical interview today. Technical interviews are really easy. It’s just what do you want to do in your two years here, what kind of site would you like? After my volunteer visit I decided to live in a city, so I re-stated that. I said that I could get used to the heat here. While walking back I ran into Luis (training director) and he complained about the heat, and I told him it was a cool day for Pespire and he was a little shocked. That’s how I realized I was getting used to it here. Back to the interview, I kept giving kind of “I don’t care” answers, or “It doesn’t matter.” Then I realized I don’t like it when I get those kinds of answers, so I explained that I was just trying not to expect one thing, so I won’t be disappointed when I get my site. They seemed to understand that answer.
I got a huge plate of food for lunch. It was Honduran style chop suey. Chop suey in the US was developed as a throw anything you like in there, and call it good, and that tradition has been carried on here. It was a huge plate of Chinese-style (sort of) noodles, hot dog pieces, chicken, corn, peppers, onion, and carrots in an odd sauce. I ate all of that huge plate though. So I think I have gained weight since being here, but I am not sure. I used to gauge my weight by how my jeans fit, but here we line-dry our clothes, so they don’t shrink like normal. I can’t use that anymore. A scale was not on the list of things to pack. I keep joking that I am going to be huge by time I leave here because I eat more than my host Dad at every meal.
In the afternoon we started a topography study. A community near here is getting a water system, and we are designing the system. It is really cool to be designing an actual system during training. It wasn’t too hot out today, so we didn’t roast too bad outside.
In other news, I have my Spanish language interview on Thursday. I am a little nervous for some weird reason. At this point I have no doubt that I will pass the intermediate medium level by the end of training. I just am really dying to find out what my level is now. I don’t know if it's because I want to prove to myself that I am learning (although its pretty obvious) or what. Note from Mom again - got intermediate medium (-)! Almost there and 5 more weeks to do it!
Hmm, I guess life is starting to get a little more normal because I can’t think of a lot of things to write about. So, pictures - in backwards order, sorry!
3. Me using the theodolite during my volunteer visit. I am using one now with the topo study as well, and hope that we switch so I can get some experience with the total station as well.
2. Picture of the area around Siguat. You see coffee plants surrounded by banana trees. Coffee grown in shade is worth more than coffee in the sun, so this way they have two crops going at once.
1. Beto drinking from a bag of water. Since they re-use glass bottles here, you normally return them. If you don’t want to return them, it too gets put in a bag and then give you a straw to drink it.
1. Beto drinking from a bag of water. Since they re-use glass bottles here, you normally return them. If you don’t want to return them, it too gets put in a bag and then give you a straw to drink it.
Ok, so my internet day got delayed again, but I should have time tomorrow to go during the day to “prepare for my next charla.” But I will obviously be doing some personal work tomorrow on the computer as well.
Today was another Honduras soccer game. Most (if not all) of the aspirantes went to Juan’s house for the game. This game was definitely a better game for Honduras. They won 3-1 against Mexico. The USA also won 3-1 against Trinidad and Tobago, but I only saw 15 minutes of that game. Argentina got their butts kicked by Bolivia. The paper here has their sports section, but it's really just a soccer section. There is more MLS news in the paper here than in my local paper in the states. I want to get the paper tomorrow because there is going to be a lot of comments on today’s Honduras game. It appeared that the abiltros (refs) were more than a little one-sided, although he did give a Mexican player a red card.
A couple of other things I thought of.
Here, instead of face clothes, they have these things that have a washcloth-like serface, but the other side is like a brillo pad. You may be thinking that would be uncomfortable, but it’s awesome because I can scrub to get all that sweat and dust off me.
There was more, oh, who won the Superbowl XXXIX? I’ll explain more later, after I get the answer.
I might be getting sick in a few days. We were doing the topo study today, and the Spanish teacher that was with us asked this man for a fruit off his tree. This fruit does not exist in the states (or at least not in Maine), but is really good. Next thing we know the family is giving them a ton of them. And, since it was rude not to, I ate a few of them then and there without washing them. I plan on getting sick a lot because to avoid getting sick you really have to wash everything diligently, but the food people sell on the side of the road is so good, that I will eat it and get sick later. As long as I realize this later, I’ll be fine.
I iron a lot here. Because I handwash everything, it is really wrinkly and every morning I iron my shirt for the day, and my pants if necessary. It is definitely more than I ever ironed in the states. But at my last house, I tried to wear a somewhat wrinkly shirt out of the house and my Mother was like “You sure you don’t want to iron that?” So, every day I do some laundry by hand and iron my clothes. I am very domestic. I still haven’t gotten this Mom to teach me how to cook Honduran food though. Good thing I still have 2 months of host families once I leave here.
Hmm, today was a lot like yesterday except for the fact that I was more active in my Spanish class today. I like to joke, and once I get comfortable joking with you in Spanish, I talk a lot. But the thing that I don’t like about the class (other than the fact that it is clear across town) is that there are hammocks hanging right next to the classroom area, and what would you rather be sitting in, a plastic chair or a hammock? They are a bit distracting.
Before I left for the soccer game, my host brother said to me that it's good that I leave time for some fun because all I do here is work. I laughed. Its not 100% true, but neither is it untrue, I do a lot of work. At night if my family isn’t in a talkative mood, I do some work to practice Spanish on my own.
Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!
I should be getting pictures from other people next week, so I will try to post a few new ones later.
Jill
Now, back to the present, I did go to the internet cafe yesterday, but they didn't have electricity. This is more of a problem in the smaller towns, but occasionally it happens here as well.
Today was another Honduras soccer game. Most (if not all) of the aspirantes went to Juan’s house for the game. This game was definitely a better game for Honduras. They won 3-1 against Mexico. The USA also won 3-1 against Trinidad and Tobago, but I only saw 15 minutes of that game. Argentina got their butts kicked by Bolivia. The paper here has their sports section, but it's really just a soccer section. There is more MLS news in the paper here than in my local paper in the states. I want to get the paper tomorrow because there is going to be a lot of comments on today’s Honduras game. It appeared that the abiltros (refs) were more than a little one-sided, although he did give a Mexican player a red card.
A couple of other things I thought of.
Here, instead of face clothes, they have these things that have a washcloth-like serface, but the other side is like a brillo pad. You may be thinking that would be uncomfortable, but it’s awesome because I can scrub to get all that sweat and dust off me.
There was more, oh, who won the Superbowl XXXIX? I’ll explain more later, after I get the answer.
I might be getting sick in a few days. We were doing the topo study today, and the Spanish teacher that was with us asked this man for a fruit off his tree. This fruit does not exist in the states (or at least not in Maine), but is really good. Next thing we know the family is giving them a ton of them. And, since it was rude not to, I ate a few of them then and there without washing them. I plan on getting sick a lot because to avoid getting sick you really have to wash everything diligently, but the food people sell on the side of the road is so good, that I will eat it and get sick later. As long as I realize this later, I’ll be fine.
I iron a lot here. Because I handwash everything, it is really wrinkly and every morning I iron my shirt for the day, and my pants if necessary. It is definitely more than I ever ironed in the states. But at my last house, I tried to wear a somewhat wrinkly shirt out of the house and my Mother was like “You sure you don’t want to iron that?” So, every day I do some laundry by hand and iron my clothes. I am very domestic. I still haven’t gotten this Mom to teach me how to cook Honduran food though. Good thing I still have 2 months of host families once I leave here.
Hmm, today was a lot like yesterday except for the fact that I was more active in my Spanish class today. I like to joke, and once I get comfortable joking with you in Spanish, I talk a lot. But the thing that I don’t like about the class (other than the fact that it is clear across town) is that there are hammocks hanging right next to the classroom area, and what would you rather be sitting in, a plastic chair or a hammock? They are a bit distracting.
Before I left for the soccer game, my host brother said to me that it's good that I leave time for some fun because all I do here is work. I laughed. Its not 100% true, but neither is it untrue, I do a lot of work. At night if my family isn’t in a talkative mood, I do some work to practice Spanish on my own.
Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!
I should be getting pictures from other people next week, so I will try to post a few new ones later.
Jill
Now, back to the present, I did go to the internet cafe yesterday, but they didn't have electricity. This is more of a problem in the smaller towns, but occasionally it happens here as well.
I made intermediate medium in my language interview. It was a three level jump. I am excited! My language teacher was then trying to tell us we could make advanced by the end of training, but I don't know about that.
I did get the theodolite and total station practice the other day.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)