two and a half more weeks for you

In this episode of what is Jill doing…

The despedida was amazing. It was a little unorganized in the beginning, it was supposed to start at 5:30pm, but everyone was late. At 6:00pm my Mom and brother arrived, and were very excited to tell me they arrived on time! So, I started off with the introduction, and only slightly butchered the Spanish language which is an improvement for me. My host family and I went first on the good-bye/ diploma give away. So, side note, Hondurans apparently love diplomas, they are very big down here, so we gave them diplomas thanking them for their participation. My Mom yet again retold the story that I am a great older sister because I can’t go anywhere without her.

Later, we gave the facilitators here a small gift of appreciation. Later, we served everyone balleadas (tortillas, beans, cheese, eggs, and chismol). They were incredibly delicious. Later there was dancing. At one point I was dancing with my brother (12 years old), and he wouldn’t be more than one step away from me. I had to use my arm to try and push him away a little. At one point I moved my hip and hit him, which means he was way too close. Over all everyone had a good time.

Today’s Spanish class was really laid back. At one point we listened to a song and discussed the theme’s in it. We had the words to help us out on this one. The song was more poetry to music than the literal American pop junk that comes out, so there was a lot of talking.

Later we finished out FBT training with a review of the reporting system. Now we are done!

Leaving my family was a little hard Saturday morning. My Mom started to cry. I felt really bad, I was leaving while my sister Paola was in the shower, and she came out in a towel, with her hair all lathered up in shampoo to say goodbye to me.

It turns out I wasn’t leaving Pespire quite yet. The bus driver didn’t have the right time to be here, so we left an hour and a half late, but that meant I could talk to friends in Pespire a little more before we said goodbye. Getting everyone in with luggage was fun, and then we got to put the business group in the bus. Since we were really later, we got permission to stop in Teguc to eat, and I ate way too much Burger King. I got really frustrated with my Spanish, I mean I could understand almost everything that was said but when the girl asked me about my order, I couldn’t get a word of it. BAHHHH!!!!!

It was nice to get back to Las Canadas and the cool weather here. I was enjoying it earlier. I can understand my family now!!! Even my host dad, which I didn’t think was going to be possible! They have all commented already on how much more I can speak now and how much more I understand. I got to go talk to my neighbor Annie for a bit which was really nice. Oh, it was really funny with my bag (if I can I will put up the picture). I carried all my stuff down the hill myself, I didn’t want my 55+? Year old mother helping me out, so I carried it down. The thing was really heavy. When I got here, we had problems with my door, so I put the bag down to go to the bathroom, well my parents got the door open while I was away and they moved it for me, and were very concerned that a woman was carrying all that weight because it is “bad for the ovaries.” I am not joking. It gives you an insight into the fun times the health group has. By the way, backpack wasn’t too bad; I managed to carry it, my regular backpack and another bag down the hill without trouble. Later in the night I watched soccer with my host dad. Now it is time to organize my stuff, right now it looks like the backpack erupted.

I was so excited when I got here. I expected to understand my host Mom, brother and sister, but wasn’t so sure if I would understand my host dad. I was so excited that I tried to start a conversation about the immigration of people to Tegucigalpa and the other major cities in Honduras. He didn’t take the bite to get into the conversation. Another trainee always talks to her father about random topics usually involving politics. Her first week here she got into a two hour discussion, and the other women of the house just left one by one until it was just the two of them. I could not have handled the discussion back then, but right then I wanted to talk about it to show off my new Spanish skills. If I had arrived with this level of Spanish I probably would have thought that I was fluent when I got here, and then promptly realized the truth, but I am still happy to be able to talk and to understand now.

The next morning we were going to the local national park. I got up and heard these birds which were very confused little things. Note: In Honduras we have bars on our doors and windows. So, the birds were sitting on the bars and flying into the glass. Multiple times, we are not talking once or twice here. I thought it was really funny. I think it is because of the reflection on the glass, but I am not sure. They returned doing their same trick the next day. My first time here people kept telling me about the birds who lived in the tree right outside my window, but I never saw them and really thought that they had lied to me. Now, I know they were right.

So, the bus to the park was a half hour late and packed. We had to get in through the back and were jammed in there. I was amazed when we kept picking more people up to. Eventually we get off the bus, and start walking. About a half hour into the walk we find out we have to walk like two hours just to make it to the front entrance, and this was no easy walk people. It was steep for an hour and a half. One guy and I brought up the rear of the line. At points I just wanted to tell everyone else to go on without us, and then we decided we would just wait outside the park entrance because we wouldn’t have energy to get in. But, eventually we made it! The hiking in the park really isn’t that bad, most of the path we took was actually level most of the time. We saw the remains of old water systems and old mining buildings. We also saw what appeared to be a toucan. It was in the trees and kind of hard to see, but it had the right shaped beak. I am not a bird person so don’t really know my Central American birds well.

Eventually we hiked to a large waterfall. It is not the big, lot of water falling down, but instead a big cliff with a little water sprinkling down. It is the beginning of the wet season, give it a few more weeks and I am sure it will be more impressive. We met a bunch of Americans there that were volunteering in Honduras. We actually saw more gringos in the park than Hondurans. Maybe the Hondurans are smart enough to use the other entrance which has to be easier to get to. The walk back to the bus stop was just as pleasant because the sun had come out and after a while my boots have no shock absorbing abilities. The bus back home was just as packed.

Monday was in general pretty boring. We have a lot of core, which means going over a lot of policy. Now, I know that most people love to sit around and learn how many rules they are gong to have to obey, but really my attention was slipping. Most of them I can understand why they have them, but to be honest, most people don’t have a lot of motivation to be in classes. We all just want to start to work.

Tuesday was more of the same. I bombed my last Spanish interview. But, the good news is I get to be a volunteer, and I scored low enough that peace corps is going to pay for a tutor for me. They may not know this yet, but they are.

Wednesday morning I finally dragged myself out of bed early enough to get my laundry done in the morning. We didn’t have water in my house in Pespire for almost a week the last week of FBT, therefore I didn’t do laundry because I didn’t want to use up all their water that they had. So, I had a bunch of laundry to do (correction, still have a lot of laundry to do, I just did the essentials earlier.

In the afternoon we had a despedida for the families here. Ahh, we had one day to plan so it had a few kinks, but still worked out well. I got to do “Cotton-eyed Joe” yet again in front of a large group of people. I later realized for the punta (traditional Garafuna dance) my tevas just don’t cut it.

So, Garifunas if I haven’t already explained it are Hondurans with a complicated story. The group started from a group of slaves that survived either a shipwreck, or mutiny or something. They lived on the Bay islands and along the north coast for a while. Eventually there was some heavy American influence. Also, they are part of Honduras, so there is a mixture of several languages and so are their culture represents it all too. The punta is a very fun dance that should not be done in tevas. And neither should the meringue, you just can’t move your feet well enough in them.

I had an excellent conversation with my family at night (after a little time relaxing in Valle de Angeles).

On to Thursday:

Thursday I tried just to keep telling myself that it was the last day of classes over and over again. I didn’t like the way some of the things were handled, so I was trying hard not to think of them. Luckily enough, my family is awesome, so when I got home, I just hung out with them and practiced my Spanish.

Friday (otherwise known as the big day):

Today was great! But a roller coaster of emotions. My sister did my hair for me this morning, eventually I will post pics, so keep this is mind when you see the pics. I had to run out the door to be on time, but climbing these paths in heels was a little interesting. Why was I wearing heels you ask? Well, because today was swearing in day. So, we saw everyone really dressed up for the first time. It was funny to see everyone like that though, although we did make the jokes that the counterparts are not going recognize us tomorrow in our normal garb.

We get to Teguc, and are told that some of our counterparts (people we will be working with) were already there. This provided a little bit of a panic for a lot of people who were trying to decide if our Spanish was up to the task, and trying to think of what you talk about for an hour with someone you have never met, again this is done in Spanish. So, I waited for a little bit and met my counterpart, and I have two years to describe him, so I won’t do it now. I did see some adorable pics of his daughter on his phone though. After an hour or so at the Peace Corps office, we went to the US Embassy. My counterpart had a little problem getting in because someone forgot to put his name of the list, and therefore he had to go talk to people for a while.

The ceremony was nice though. A few people talked, we got to sing the Honduran and American national anthems which was fun. One of us gave a speech which was very good, he was the only superior in our group, and we all appreciated it. He had some people in tears. Before and after the ceremony there was a lot of picture taking going on, and thanks to a friend, you will eventually see a bunch of pics. She forgot her camera therefore she used mine since I have not been very camera happy since arriving in Honduras.

After the ceremony, we went to the training center with our counterparts. There we had a very nice catered lunch. Afterwards we had counterpart afternoon. At times I was just very, very tired. I didn’t mean disrespect, but all I wanted to do was sleep. I did talk to my counterpart some more and he has a lot of plans for me. I really have little choice but to be fluent by the end of the next three months. I will be doing a lot of work, but it also looks like there is a bunch of free time in the schedule as well. Striking a balance of working and having enough but not too much free time will require some effort and a little experience. I’m very excited to leave tomorrow morning. I will miss this family a lot though.

Saturday

I said good bye to my family this morning and finally got pictures of them all. Like I said, I haven’t been very camera happy here. My counterpart came to pick me up and we drove to Teguc to pick up his wife (daughter was already in the car). We went to the mall to have lunch. Now, I don’t like crowds normally, so crowds who speak Spanish and where I stick out so bad are nice and interesting. I can’t understand Spanish very well when there is a lot of background noise, so the subway guy and I had a good time trying to talk. That’s right, I got subway. Nice little chicken sandwich. Reminded me of home. The entire time in the mall I was pretty much just looking at the little girl because she is very cute. She is not quite sure what to make of me though. The mall is an interesting place, it has a lot of American stores and is pretty up-scale. I felt little an idiot though because I was trying not to gaulk at everything, I mean its not like I have never seen a mall before, its just that its so different than the poor villages I have seen. Its had to put the two together in your mind when they are at times only an hour away from each other. Oh, so there is a creole fast food place in the food court, and on the menu they had po-boy big daddy sandwiches. No joke, that’s what it said on the sign, in English. I love the mix of English and Spanish you get sometimes.

After our fun times at the mall we left for my town. It took us what felt like forever to get out of Teguc though. The way here wasn’t too bad. There are parts of the highway where construction trucks come and just dump the site trash along the side of the road. A system of solid waste management is needed in what seems like the entire country, and most people know this, its just such a big undertaking. There was a stretch where half of the road got washed away in three places, I didn’t understand how long ago this happened when my counterpart tried to explain it to me. By the way, my counterpart’s name is Walter. He is Honduran, just happens to have an English name. The trip here after we left teguc was only 2 hours or so. It’s a really pretty drive.

I didn’t get nervous until I got close to my site. Then I started worrying, but just as fast the nervousness got replaced by excitement. My town is really nice. It has 20,000 people more or less. There is a central park and plaza. And from what I have seen so far, seems to be really active. There are a bunch of other volunteers in the area as well, so that is pretty cool, once I can leave my site, I can easily crash with them for a little while.

So, for the first three months I cannot travel outside my site for “personal reasons.” This is to make sure that we integrate into our site. For the first two months we have to live with a host family, although really, I think I will live with mine for longer. I’ll get back to this later.

Anyways, I arrived at my house and fell in love immediately. The house is awesome. Inside the exterior walls there is a lot of sitting places. There is an inside living room, a living room under the roof, but without surrounding walls, and a place to sit outside under a huge green mango tree. Right now is mango season, so its kind of a game of Russian roulette because the mangoes are starting to fall, and the chairs are right under the tree. Obviously this isn’t too big of a problem or they wouldn’t have the chairs there. There are also two hammocks outside which make me very happy.

My family is very nice and very relaxed. I have my host Mom, my host grandmother, a host sister (around 35) and the housekeeper who live here. Oh, yeah, I have a Japanese volunteer who lives here was well, but I only saw him for two minutes the other day and he has left for the week. There is an organization like peace corps in Japan, but really I will have to ask him about it later, which means you will get more details later.

This morning I met with other volunteers from the area and explored my town a little bit. They pointed out some of the nicer places to eat and where had the best internet, etc. So, I have heard a lot about places to go in Nicaragua as well, and the border is very close to here.

Speaking of that, so, let’s discuss visitors. I can’t have visitors until August, and then can have them until Feb. of 2011. So, if you want to visit, let me know, there is plenty of time, but things kind of need to be planned in advance, especially if I take vacation time. Oh, if anyone wants to go the Bay Islands, I can go with you no problem if you pay. Apparently they are expensive, well, in comparison to the rest of Honduras, not to the States. I don’t know when I will be visiting the States yet. I’ll talk to the volunteers to see when is the best time to have visitors, and if they have any suggestions for you folks.

Oh, so mail, I will be opening up a mail box in my town this week, so hold off on mailing anything for right now (I know you all have letters waiting to be mailed). I will still receive mail that has been sent recently, but I will get mail quicker if I have a mailbox here.

Now that I am at my site I should have internet access more often. When I go to my office tomorrow I can see if I have it there, or if I need to go to an internet café. Hopefully you will get updates a little more frequently from now on. I know you love reading these huge two weeks at one go blogs, but for those of you who don’t have lot of free down time, it might be easier.

My Spanish seems to be holding up pretty well. I even had a discussion on sustainable development today all in Spanish. I got a really open ended question when I was talking to my cousin though, he pretty much asked me what I though about the problems of the world. How do you answer such a question, especially when it was pulled out of the blue like that?

Tomorrow I go to introduce myself to my counterpart agency and I think we are going to one of the villages I will be working in. Like I said, my counterpart has a lot of plans, so only time will tell what I will be up to.

Hmm, I think that is all for now. If I have internet access tomorrow, I am going to post this, if not, well, there is more to follow.

Jill

Aka Julie in my house because Jillian is too hard to say.

Ok, obviously I did not get to use the internet, we are going to have a day at the office tomorrow so hopefully I can either use the internet there or I can get to an internet café.

So, the first two days working have gone well. The first day I sat in on the orientation meeting for a bunch of contractors they have brought in to give training sessions to the water boards in the area. The thing about Spanish (for me) is that I can’t zone out and still get the gist of the conversation and I definitely got trapped in a situation when I had no clue what they were talking about. Later in the afternoon I went to an aldea (village) which I want to write nearby but it takes an hour to get there. The roads aren’t nearly as bad as the roads near Pespire, so you can actually do an acceptable speed (for a dirt road). We went and saw the source of water for that community. Then we ate dinner with the family of a co-worker in another aldea.

Today, we went in the morning to another aldea. This one was a little closer. We went to the dams and then walked the conduction line (water from the dam to the water tank near the houses). This took four hours. I am not lying. No one brought food. What I did learn though was which type of vine you can cut and drink the water from. Always good to know. I still haven’t broken down and decided I am going to drink café (coffee). In this area there is a lot of coffee, like most places in Honduras. So, people generally drink more coffee than anything else, and you start drinking really young. Eventually I am going to be a coffee drinker but I am putting this off for as long as possible, and it is kind of a joke in my office, how long is it going to take before I start asking for coffee? I was talking to my host Mom tonight and she agrees that it’s a little by little process. Maybe tomorrow I will put five drops of coffee in a cup and try to drink it.

So, what have been my food adventures lately? I am having more quantity issues right now. Especially in the aldeas, where there is no variety of food, you just eat what is in front of you, which can be a very odd cheese creation. Oh, now I remember, I had a meatloaf muffin. Not joking. Now, had it been my Mom’s meatloaf, I would have eaten it in two bites and asked for seconds, but it was Honduran meatloaf muffin. The meat here is always a little questionable, now but in some unidentifiable spices, some vegetables, and in the middle (your going to love this) wrap some really low quality cheddar cheese in a slice of not so great ham and stick an olive in the middle of all that. Well, I know some of you are now thinking that you will try to make American meatloaf muffins, and let me know how that goes. Who knows, maybe by time I return to the States, meatloaf muffins will be all the rage.

So, the first day out while we were walking and looking at a fantastic view after discussing the water system, I definitely had “I’m really here moment.” This is me, I am really in the Peace Corps and I am really working in Honduras.