Wednesday, June 3, 2009
finally, i got the blog online
HOW HAPPY AM I?
Well, right now I am watching what not to wear! It’s in Spanish, so I am getting some new vocabulary. Also, I never realized how fast they talk on this show until I watched it in Spanish. Also, I went to the grocery store earlier, and they had huge bags on snickers minis, which I managed not to buy, but just seeing them made me happy.
My alarm clock and I have quite the battle going on, and I am not sure who is winning the war. The thing has a backlight, so you can see the numbers when there is no light. Well, it is very selective on when it will work. You have to touch it just right to get it to come on, but every time that I think I figure it out, it changes its mind on how it is going to work.
So, I went through the blog today and realized how long the entries look. But the options are write less or write less; which means you don’t get as much info. It’s not really that feasible right now to use the internet more often.
Someone want to do something fantastic for me? I know you do! I get ESPN, and therefore want to know when Roland Garros (French Open Tennis) and Wimbledon will be on ESPN latin America. Not exactly sure what the name is for my espn coverage, but I am sure you can figure it out. Bonus points for those that send me (via email is fine) the schedule for TCM (one of my favorite channels). In fact, email is better because by time I get mail two weeks after it is mailed, then the news and schedules will probably be very old. I could look this up myself but I don’t have a lot of time online. To give you a heads up, I am 90% certain we have dish tv.
School is over and I should be getting my world wise school information soon. World wise schools is a Peace Corps program that connects peace corps volunteers currently serving in their post with schools in the US. It is yet another way to incorporate Peace Corps third goal which is the sharing of other cultures with Americans. The school year in the states is just about over for everyone, but it means I have something to look forward to for the fall.
In case you were wondering, goal one is to provide developing country with trained personal to assist in the training of host country nationals. And number two is to share American culture with the host country, which we do every day by interacting with families, neighbors, etc.
Ok, interesting day. We had an earthquake here in the middle of the night. I woke up and really thought that someone was in my room shaking my bed. Then by time I realized that it might be an earthquake it was over. Only a little major damage done, and none in this area, just woke everyone up. The epicenter was a ways away from here, but apparently people from Mexico to Panama felt it. A 7.1 on the Richter scale, not bad.
This morning we left for the aldeas again. I didn’t sleep well again last night, so I was really tired walking around. Then in the afternoon we went to observe the trainings that some of the people in the NGO (non-governmental organization) are doing. The first one had a really bad attendance rate. The second one was in the middle of nowhere. I mean, whoa, this one had me worried with the conditions of the roads. Apparently I will be going to an aldea farther out than that, whoopee!
Oh, insight that I had and don’t think I’ve told you yet. To me its just weird that everyone knows all about their water systems here. No one in the states does. It’s definitely something to get used to. The people helping us though are the ones involved in the water boards, so that might be it too. Next week I start working for real doing the surveys, so that should be interesting. I had the thought today, you really sure you want me to do that? when someone told me they wanted my advice on where to put the conduction line.
Oh, man, I had so many ideas of what to write today, but yet again, I am at a loss for words. I need to carry around a notebook to write notes down in!
Friday:
It’s just easier for me to write out which day is which. Went back into the field today, I went to get to know a system that I will be reworking. They have a water source and tank, but still have a lot of problems. Friday night and I am watching twister on tv and looking a water system design that a volunteer who was here before me did, I know, I am living it up right. One thing is for sure though: I need to buy a fan, my room has very little air movement, and although it is winter here, its still warm. Very warm.
Weekend:
Saturday morning we went to the community where I will be doing my first topo study. Not really sure if it was worth it or while. I did get to play with a kitten though, which was fun for me and scary for the kitten. The animals here don’t get the lush life of the pets in the states. Most of them are skin and bones.
Sunday I got sick again! Yeah! Ok, that’s enough sarcasm. Stuff happens, and if you have read any of my friends blog, the subject of bowel movements is a common theme, I think I have spared you most of that.
Monday:
Still a little sick. Didn’t start the topo study, but at least now I have time to go do my errands around town (which hopefully include posting this blog).
I am watching the French open right now, it says live. Del Potro is beating Tsonga. Who would have thought that Nadal would be out of the French Open so fast?
No good revelations or thoughts lately, I thought about writing about deforestation and its affects but I am kind of lazy right now. So, you have that to look forward to in the future.
Tuesday:
So, my town is in the middle of its 50th year as a municipality celebration. What they were before that, I have no idea. Anyways, apparently every night there is some kind of celebration and really every school in the area has a night to perform. Last night was a high school in the area. The marching band was definitely the best part. This was not your average high school band. First, they only had drums and bells. Second, they were not nearly as dull as most high school bands. You know the drumline movie? Where they show the marching bands doing crazy stuff? That is the kind of training these kids have received. It was fun to watch. The rest of the night the entertainment was kind of iffy. There were a few lip-singing performances that were kind of awful. Sorry kids, but a little more enthusiasm is needed in your performance. I had to give them credit for trying, but after about 5, I had enough. There were also some kids from the school who performed traditional folk dances.
Food
On another note, my sitemate and I tried some of the local pizza, and that was the first and last experience for that place. It was pretty scetch. First, it was the weird Honduran 1000 island/mayonnaise type sauce, the cheese was really thick, and I think it was special Honduran cheese. Apparently there is someplace else to get pizza in town, so we will try it later. For now we are just happy we are not sick from the pizza.
I kind of feel sorry for you guys, I was reading the blog of a friend the other day and it is crazy funny. Mine just seems really, really dull compared to hers. She had this crazy typical day drawn out, but I just don’t seem to have a typical day, much less one that is funny. I either go to work, or I don’t. Today, I am watching the quarter-finals of Roland Garros. I have a feeling that eventually I will be getting a call asking where I am, but really, I will say I am studying Spanish grammar. This might sound bad, but consider this, it’s the French Open, and I have nothing to do in the office. I made the effort to go in yesterday and I got a “what are you doing here” look. I talked for a few minutes and then left again. Hopefully today is not the day they rescheduled me for the topo study, although they would have already have been here looking for me if that was the case. As another note, the pace of life here is a lot slower. Volunteers don’t do the 8 hour work days. We have a lot of free time, and there is talk about starting a baseball team with the kids in town, so that will become part of my job too. I was talking to a volunteer during training and she said that the day I was talking to her was a busy day for her because she took part of a class in the school in the morning and came to help with our training in the afternoon. I just want to let you know that I am not lazy, just maybe not using my time very efficiently.
For those of you following the World Cup, the US and Honduras play this Saturday. Oh, I also watched NCAA men’s lacrosse the other day. Duke vs Syracuse. Very interesting. Not the kind of thing you expect to be able to see while in the peace corps. And yes, this post is kind of in the posh corps, we all have cell phones, there are internet cafes in almost every town and cable tv is easy to get.
I don’t think I have introduced any Honduran words for a while. So, today we have cheque.
• Cheque- (check-ayh like you have a Minnesotan accent) adv.- cool, good, fine, ok.
When you feel really good you can say chequeleque. Let’s practice:
• How are you? Cheque.
• How are the preparations for the party? Todo cheque.
• So, I am going to pick you up tonight at 7pm for our date? Chequeleque.
To give you an idea of the importance of these words, we were told them the first or second day of training.
Food (sorry Bittany)
Ok, so I am going to give you a Honduran recipe as well.
Boleadas (aka great food)
Ingredients
Flour tortillas – now there is a special type of tortillas that makes boleadas go from good to great, that taste more like pizza crust than tortilla, but use your own judgement here, just make sure they are not too small, anything less than a six inch diameter wont do.
Refried beans, better with homemade, but I guess you can use a quality can type
Cheese, now this one might be hard to replicate, because the type of cheese used here is actually fairly salty, so you will have to be the judge on the type you use.
Optional- chismol and guacamole (always better fresh than in a can- recipes to follow)
Directions
Cook refried beans according to the directions (I suggest adding onion and garlic, but that’s just me). Shred the cheese while cooking.
Heat tortillas- in a griddle is the best method to get the desired consistency.
When both are done, put the beans on one half of the tortilla, sprinkle cheese, guacamole and chismol over the beans. Fold tortilla in half. Enjoy.
Chismol
Chop up onion, tomato, green bell pepper into tiny pieces and mix together. Now, we have what are called especias here (mix of spices) so you will have to decide if you want to add anything here. Garlic and spicy peppers can also be added. Touch of salt to finish it off.
Guacamole
Take an avocado, remove the fruit portion, mash it up, add chopped veggies that you want. (maybe a little salt too).
Now, a true boleada doesn’t have the chismol or guacamole, but I suggest them for those of you who haven’t gotten accustomed to beans every night.
Address:
Ok, the address has changed yet again. I went in to get a post office box with my sitemates. So, check with the parents or give me an email.
Well, right now I am watching what not to wear! It’s in Spanish, so I am getting some new vocabulary. Also, I never realized how fast they talk on this show until I watched it in Spanish. Also, I went to the grocery store earlier, and they had huge bags on snickers minis, which I managed not to buy, but just seeing them made me happy.
My alarm clock and I have quite the battle going on, and I am not sure who is winning the war. The thing has a backlight, so you can see the numbers when there is no light. Well, it is very selective on when it will work. You have to touch it just right to get it to come on, but every time that I think I figure it out, it changes its mind on how it is going to work.
So, I went through the blog today and realized how long the entries look. But the options are write less or write less; which means you don’t get as much info. It’s not really that feasible right now to use the internet more often.
Someone want to do something fantastic for me? I know you do! I get ESPN, and therefore want to know when Roland Garros (French Open Tennis) and Wimbledon will be on ESPN latin America. Not exactly sure what the name is for my espn coverage, but I am sure you can figure it out. Bonus points for those that send me (via email is fine) the schedule for TCM (one of my favorite channels). In fact, email is better because by time I get mail two weeks after it is mailed, then the news and schedules will probably be very old. I could look this up myself but I don’t have a lot of time online. To give you a heads up, I am 90% certain we have dish tv.
School is over and I should be getting my world wise school information soon. World wise schools is a Peace Corps program that connects peace corps volunteers currently serving in their post with schools in the US. It is yet another way to incorporate Peace Corps third goal which is the sharing of other cultures with Americans. The school year in the states is just about over for everyone, but it means I have something to look forward to for the fall.
In case you were wondering, goal one is to provide developing country with trained personal to assist in the training of host country nationals. And number two is to share American culture with the host country, which we do every day by interacting with families, neighbors, etc.
Ok, interesting day. We had an earthquake here in the middle of the night. I woke up and really thought that someone was in my room shaking my bed. Then by time I realized that it might be an earthquake it was over. Only a little major damage done, and none in this area, just woke everyone up. The epicenter was a ways away from here, but apparently people from Mexico to Panama felt it. A 7.1 on the Richter scale, not bad.
This morning we left for the aldeas again. I didn’t sleep well again last night, so I was really tired walking around. Then in the afternoon we went to observe the trainings that some of the people in the NGO (non-governmental organization) are doing. The first one had a really bad attendance rate. The second one was in the middle of nowhere. I mean, whoa, this one had me worried with the conditions of the roads. Apparently I will be going to an aldea farther out than that, whoopee!
Oh, insight that I had and don’t think I’ve told you yet. To me its just weird that everyone knows all about their water systems here. No one in the states does. It’s definitely something to get used to. The people helping us though are the ones involved in the water boards, so that might be it too. Next week I start working for real doing the surveys, so that should be interesting. I had the thought today, you really sure you want me to do that? when someone told me they wanted my advice on where to put the conduction line.
Oh, man, I had so many ideas of what to write today, but yet again, I am at a loss for words. I need to carry around a notebook to write notes down in!
Friday:
It’s just easier for me to write out which day is which. Went back into the field today, I went to get to know a system that I will be reworking. They have a water source and tank, but still have a lot of problems. Friday night and I am watching twister on tv and looking a water system design that a volunteer who was here before me did, I know, I am living it up right. One thing is for sure though: I need to buy a fan, my room has very little air movement, and although it is winter here, its still warm. Very warm.
Weekend:
Saturday morning we went to the community where I will be doing my first topo study. Not really sure if it was worth it or while. I did get to play with a kitten though, which was fun for me and scary for the kitten. The animals here don’t get the lush life of the pets in the states. Most of them are skin and bones.
Sunday I got sick again! Yeah! Ok, that’s enough sarcasm. Stuff happens, and if you have read any of my friends blog, the subject of bowel movements is a common theme, I think I have spared you most of that.
Monday:
Still a little sick. Didn’t start the topo study, but at least now I have time to go do my errands around town (which hopefully include posting this blog).
I am watching the French open right now, it says live. Del Potro is beating Tsonga. Who would have thought that Nadal would be out of the French Open so fast?
No good revelations or thoughts lately, I thought about writing about deforestation and its affects but I am kind of lazy right now. So, you have that to look forward to in the future.
Tuesday:
So, my town is in the middle of its 50th year as a municipality celebration. What they were before that, I have no idea. Anyways, apparently every night there is some kind of celebration and really every school in the area has a night to perform. Last night was a high school in the area. The marching band was definitely the best part. This was not your average high school band. First, they only had drums and bells. Second, they were not nearly as dull as most high school bands. You know the drumline movie? Where they show the marching bands doing crazy stuff? That is the kind of training these kids have received. It was fun to watch. The rest of the night the entertainment was kind of iffy. There were a few lip-singing performances that were kind of awful. Sorry kids, but a little more enthusiasm is needed in your performance. I had to give them credit for trying, but after about 5, I had enough. There were also some kids from the school who performed traditional folk dances.
Food
On another note, my sitemate and I tried some of the local pizza, and that was the first and last experience for that place. It was pretty scetch. First, it was the weird Honduran 1000 island/mayonnaise type sauce, the cheese was really thick, and I think it was special Honduran cheese. Apparently there is someplace else to get pizza in town, so we will try it later. For now we are just happy we are not sick from the pizza.
I kind of feel sorry for you guys, I was reading the blog of a friend the other day and it is crazy funny. Mine just seems really, really dull compared to hers. She had this crazy typical day drawn out, but I just don’t seem to have a typical day, much less one that is funny. I either go to work, or I don’t. Today, I am watching the quarter-finals of Roland Garros. I have a feeling that eventually I will be getting a call asking where I am, but really, I will say I am studying Spanish grammar. This might sound bad, but consider this, it’s the French Open, and I have nothing to do in the office. I made the effort to go in yesterday and I got a “what are you doing here” look. I talked for a few minutes and then left again. Hopefully today is not the day they rescheduled me for the topo study, although they would have already have been here looking for me if that was the case. As another note, the pace of life here is a lot slower. Volunteers don’t do the 8 hour work days. We have a lot of free time, and there is talk about starting a baseball team with the kids in town, so that will become part of my job too. I was talking to a volunteer during training and she said that the day I was talking to her was a busy day for her because she took part of a class in the school in the morning and came to help with our training in the afternoon. I just want to let you know that I am not lazy, just maybe not using my time very efficiently.
For those of you following the World Cup, the US and Honduras play this Saturday. Oh, I also watched NCAA men’s lacrosse the other day. Duke vs Syracuse. Very interesting. Not the kind of thing you expect to be able to see while in the peace corps. And yes, this post is kind of in the posh corps, we all have cell phones, there are internet cafes in almost every town and cable tv is easy to get.
I don’t think I have introduced any Honduran words for a while. So, today we have cheque.
• Cheque- (check-ayh like you have a Minnesotan accent) adv.- cool, good, fine, ok.
When you feel really good you can say chequeleque. Let’s practice:
• How are you? Cheque.
• How are the preparations for the party? Todo cheque.
• So, I am going to pick you up tonight at 7pm for our date? Chequeleque.
To give you an idea of the importance of these words, we were told them the first or second day of training.
Food (sorry Bittany)
Ok, so I am going to give you a Honduran recipe as well.
Boleadas (aka great food)
Ingredients
Flour tortillas – now there is a special type of tortillas that makes boleadas go from good to great, that taste more like pizza crust than tortilla, but use your own judgement here, just make sure they are not too small, anything less than a six inch diameter wont do.
Refried beans, better with homemade, but I guess you can use a quality can type
Cheese, now this one might be hard to replicate, because the type of cheese used here is actually fairly salty, so you will have to be the judge on the type you use.
Optional- chismol and guacamole (always better fresh than in a can- recipes to follow)
Directions
Cook refried beans according to the directions (I suggest adding onion and garlic, but that’s just me). Shred the cheese while cooking.
Heat tortillas- in a griddle is the best method to get the desired consistency.
When both are done, put the beans on one half of the tortilla, sprinkle cheese, guacamole and chismol over the beans. Fold tortilla in half. Enjoy.
Chismol
Chop up onion, tomato, green bell pepper into tiny pieces and mix together. Now, we have what are called especias here (mix of spices) so you will have to decide if you want to add anything here. Garlic and spicy peppers can also be added. Touch of salt to finish it off.
Guacamole
Take an avocado, remove the fruit portion, mash it up, add chopped veggies that you want. (maybe a little salt too).
Now, a true boleada doesn’t have the chismol or guacamole, but I suggest them for those of you who haven’t gotten accustomed to beans every night.
Address:
Ok, the address has changed yet again. I went in to get a post office box with my sitemates. So, check with the parents or give me an email.
Monday, June 1, 2009
I´m alive
Ok folks, I had a whole blog written up but you have never had as many problems with a computer than I am having now. The thing has a hidden usb port, and now it refuses to read my usb. Anyways, i am alive and well. i watched a bit of the french open this morning.
so, looking back i saw that a bunch of my blogs are just really really long, and i tried to come in today to use the internet to post a shorter blog, but the computer is just not working with me.
take care
jill
so, looking back i saw that a bunch of my blogs are just really really long, and i tried to come in today to use the internet to post a shorter blog, but the computer is just not working with me.
take care
jill
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Pics
You guys are out of luck on the whole picture thing, and they just take forever to load. I will ask the other volunteers in the area where has better and faster internet connection.
Week one thru two at site
Let’s see how long it takes me to get this blog up.
I just finished reading a great book Still Alice by Lisa Genova. It is a fictional story told from the perspective of a woman who is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. It is an interesting story and provides a lot of insight into the current treatment methods and how Alzheimer’s affects people and their families. The author is a neuroscientist, and therefore took great pains to get the science right in the story.
Speaking of books, please send me some. I am already down to one book left from my original hoard. My mailing address has changed; to get it, please call the folks, or email me and I will send it to you. Our safety and security guy brought up the point of how easy it would be to find us if we even just mention the town we live in, so we’ll keep that a secret for now. I’m sure over the two years I will either forget not to say the name, or I will give away enough clues that you could figure it out, but oh well.
I am taking some Spanish time. I don’t really have anything to do in the office so I am reading some, and studying more Spanish. I went into the office yesterday and realized I had nothing to do of yet there, so until work gets rolling, I don’t know how often I will be in there. I have my own office, but really, what am I supposed to do? It’s much more comfortable in the shade under the tree in my patio than in my office. Half of the time we go out into the aldeas to get to know the people there are to get acquainted with the water systems.
Anything I haven’t told you about in the last few months?
Nothing much happened this past weekend. On Saturday I went to the birthday party of my boss’s one year old daughter. It was very cute. They had a lot of games and whatnot for the kids there.
Sunday I was even lazier.
Tomorrow I head back out into the aldeas. I should be in decent shape after two years if this keeps up. The other day we were out walking for four hours. We are not talking about some nice flat walk either, nope, straight up and straight down.
Let’s see, every day when things happen I think “I should write about this,” but when I actually get in front of my computer, I don’t remember them.
One thing I do remember is that I saw a burrito the other day. Not the food (its Mexican not Honduran), but a baby donkey. To imply small or cute here, you add –ito to the end, so donkey (burro) is burrito. I like corny things and the though made me laugh.
I talked to some of the other people in my training group last night. Everyone seems to be doing fine. We are all pretty much in the same boat, just trying to figure out what you are supposed to be doing. In that respect it’s not much different than other new jobs. We just happen to be doing it in Honduras.
I do more ironing here than any other time in my life. I don’t know how my clothes get so wrinkled. No one else had this problem in training, but my clothes looked horrible if I didn’t iron. So, after two years I should be a master ironer too. I will also be a master at fixing clothes. Doing this type of work and hand-washing on a cement slab are rough on the clothes. Then there are the ubiquitous barbed wire fences, I put a small rip in a pair of pants today. I have a count of how many barbed wire fences I have crawled under or through in my time here, I am at 31 right now, so after two years that should be an impressive number.
Just so you don’t think I am stuck in the stone-age, I have cable tv in my room. My family brought in an old tv in my room. I have an incredible collection of channels. I have the speed channel (don’t know if they will play the luge and bobsledding in the winter or not though down here, but I hope so), discovery, animal planet, hbo, starz, and a bunch of other ones. A bunch of them are in English with only Spanish subtitles. This is kind of a mixed bag for me, on the one hand I washed two and a half men in English last night, but on the other, I need to work on understanding Spanish, not English. This should be an internal battle for me, what should I watch.
At work I am having the same internal battle I have always had, trying to be more social. I think I should just tell them that I don’t speak a lot in English as well. They have all been really nice, and I have had the opportunity to work with just about everyone who works with the organization. Oh, be jealous though, on Friday I get to attend an all day lecture on how to prepare a budget. I’m excited! One of the hardest things so far was trying to pay attention all last Friday to the seminar I guess you would call it, and that topic was a riot compared to budgets. Oh well. –Later: I just found out that I don’t have to attend Friday! Yeah! No budgets for me!
There has to be something else to add, if I could get my hands on a decent speed connection I would add some pictures, but everything I have seen here is SLOW. At work we have dial up, yeah, remember that old stuff. It’s all I can do to have the patience of doing the bare minimum online there.
So, be content in knowing that I am safe and happy here, getting to know the culture and the people more every day.
I just came back from quite the walk in the aldeas (it appears that I didn’t get ticks this time). I have had a good time going out to the aldeas. I guess its really weird from me that so many people here know exactly where their water comes from. In the US people just know that when you turn the knob, there is water. Here, it is more complicated. Well, the people that run the water system are your neighbors, and there are meetings for everyone to know what is up with the system. Its funny how little they pay for their water here. There is a big push from the government right now to raise how much people pay because its just not sustainable (big entry on sustainable development coming soon). The thing is, to bring the water, it only costs a little, especially if the plumber that fixes the line when there are problems is a volunteer. There is just not planning for the future, so if something happened to the water tank for instance, there isn’t enough money to pay for a new one. Thus, there is a push to plan a little better for the future. No one is trying to get them to pay US rates for their water, but a little more so that they can handle what comes in the future and still have water is better. Its hard to get people to change their ways, especially in some of the rural and poor areas where the money could be spent on other things. Water is important, but why pay more is kind of the mindset. If they have already had a system for 20 years, without changing the fee, why change now?
Food
So, the other day I had my first no more beans time. I was coming home and was hoping that somehow the supper would not include beans. Luckily enough, it didn’t. It was fried food, and after my time in Pespire I am more addicted to fried food than any other time in my life. Also, addicted to coca-cola. Or pepsi. Love the stuff, and was so excited when my host mom bought a bottle for the house. I am getting better at eating food off the bone. The fruit harvest time is coming up in the next few weeks here, so I will have all kinds of new fruits to try. I’m still not drinking coffee. This is the BIG joke in my organization. We went somewhere the other day and the guy had a hard time believing that someone doesn’t like coffee. Another person thought I was Mormon because I don’t drink coffee. I told that no, I’m not Mormon, I just don’t drink coffee.
Dogs
This country has a lot of dogs. Its so funny, in the states almost all dogs are fixed, but none are here (none in the aldeas), I’ve never seen so many in tact dogs in my life. We had some interesting some interesting experiences with dogs today. Most dogs here are pretty chill. They just kind of lay there or walk around, without bugging you, but every once in a while there are some dumb dogs. So, at the last house we went to today, there were three dogs that came up to us barking. They really weren’t running viciously, just walking quickly while barking. The puppy of the bunch was the one that barked for the longest time. They made no attempt to bite anyone, just kind of stood there, and when we didn’t move, they sat around. Then later, while we were in the truck, a dog saw us coming and ran into the road to bark at us, and stayed in the road, just kept walking a little bit forward and barking back at us, while we were trying to move forward. It was funny.
I just finished reading a great book Still Alice by Lisa Genova. It is a fictional story told from the perspective of a woman who is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. It is an interesting story and provides a lot of insight into the current treatment methods and how Alzheimer’s affects people and their families. The author is a neuroscientist, and therefore took great pains to get the science right in the story.
Speaking of books, please send me some. I am already down to one book left from my original hoard. My mailing address has changed; to get it, please call the folks, or email me and I will send it to you. Our safety and security guy brought up the point of how easy it would be to find us if we even just mention the town we live in, so we’ll keep that a secret for now. I’m sure over the two years I will either forget not to say the name, or I will give away enough clues that you could figure it out, but oh well.
I am taking some Spanish time. I don’t really have anything to do in the office so I am reading some, and studying more Spanish. I went into the office yesterday and realized I had nothing to do of yet there, so until work gets rolling, I don’t know how often I will be in there. I have my own office, but really, what am I supposed to do? It’s much more comfortable in the shade under the tree in my patio than in my office. Half of the time we go out into the aldeas to get to know the people there are to get acquainted with the water systems.
Anything I haven’t told you about in the last few months?
Nothing much happened this past weekend. On Saturday I went to the birthday party of my boss’s one year old daughter. It was very cute. They had a lot of games and whatnot for the kids there.
Sunday I was even lazier.
Tomorrow I head back out into the aldeas. I should be in decent shape after two years if this keeps up. The other day we were out walking for four hours. We are not talking about some nice flat walk either, nope, straight up and straight down.
Let’s see, every day when things happen I think “I should write about this,” but when I actually get in front of my computer, I don’t remember them.
One thing I do remember is that I saw a burrito the other day. Not the food (its Mexican not Honduran), but a baby donkey. To imply small or cute here, you add –ito to the end, so donkey (burro) is burrito. I like corny things and the though made me laugh.
I talked to some of the other people in my training group last night. Everyone seems to be doing fine. We are all pretty much in the same boat, just trying to figure out what you are supposed to be doing. In that respect it’s not much different than other new jobs. We just happen to be doing it in Honduras.
I do more ironing here than any other time in my life. I don’t know how my clothes get so wrinkled. No one else had this problem in training, but my clothes looked horrible if I didn’t iron. So, after two years I should be a master ironer too. I will also be a master at fixing clothes. Doing this type of work and hand-washing on a cement slab are rough on the clothes. Then there are the ubiquitous barbed wire fences, I put a small rip in a pair of pants today. I have a count of how many barbed wire fences I have crawled under or through in my time here, I am at 31 right now, so after two years that should be an impressive number.
Just so you don’t think I am stuck in the stone-age, I have cable tv in my room. My family brought in an old tv in my room. I have an incredible collection of channels. I have the speed channel (don’t know if they will play the luge and bobsledding in the winter or not though down here, but I hope so), discovery, animal planet, hbo, starz, and a bunch of other ones. A bunch of them are in English with only Spanish subtitles. This is kind of a mixed bag for me, on the one hand I washed two and a half men in English last night, but on the other, I need to work on understanding Spanish, not English. This should be an internal battle for me, what should I watch.
At work I am having the same internal battle I have always had, trying to be more social. I think I should just tell them that I don’t speak a lot in English as well. They have all been really nice, and I have had the opportunity to work with just about everyone who works with the organization. Oh, be jealous though, on Friday I get to attend an all day lecture on how to prepare a budget. I’m excited! One of the hardest things so far was trying to pay attention all last Friday to the seminar I guess you would call it, and that topic was a riot compared to budgets. Oh well. –Later: I just found out that I don’t have to attend Friday! Yeah! No budgets for me!
There has to be something else to add, if I could get my hands on a decent speed connection I would add some pictures, but everything I have seen here is SLOW. At work we have dial up, yeah, remember that old stuff. It’s all I can do to have the patience of doing the bare minimum online there.
So, be content in knowing that I am safe and happy here, getting to know the culture and the people more every day.
I just came back from quite the walk in the aldeas (it appears that I didn’t get ticks this time). I have had a good time going out to the aldeas. I guess its really weird from me that so many people here know exactly where their water comes from. In the US people just know that when you turn the knob, there is water. Here, it is more complicated. Well, the people that run the water system are your neighbors, and there are meetings for everyone to know what is up with the system. Its funny how little they pay for their water here. There is a big push from the government right now to raise how much people pay because its just not sustainable (big entry on sustainable development coming soon). The thing is, to bring the water, it only costs a little, especially if the plumber that fixes the line when there are problems is a volunteer. There is just not planning for the future, so if something happened to the water tank for instance, there isn’t enough money to pay for a new one. Thus, there is a push to plan a little better for the future. No one is trying to get them to pay US rates for their water, but a little more so that they can handle what comes in the future and still have water is better. Its hard to get people to change their ways, especially in some of the rural and poor areas where the money could be spent on other things. Water is important, but why pay more is kind of the mindset. If they have already had a system for 20 years, without changing the fee, why change now?
Food
So, the other day I had my first no more beans time. I was coming home and was hoping that somehow the supper would not include beans. Luckily enough, it didn’t. It was fried food, and after my time in Pespire I am more addicted to fried food than any other time in my life. Also, addicted to coca-cola. Or pepsi. Love the stuff, and was so excited when my host mom bought a bottle for the house. I am getting better at eating food off the bone. The fruit harvest time is coming up in the next few weeks here, so I will have all kinds of new fruits to try. I’m still not drinking coffee. This is the BIG joke in my organization. We went somewhere the other day and the guy had a hard time believing that someone doesn’t like coffee. Another person thought I was Mormon because I don’t drink coffee. I told that no, I’m not Mormon, I just don’t drink coffee.
Dogs
This country has a lot of dogs. Its so funny, in the states almost all dogs are fixed, but none are here (none in the aldeas), I’ve never seen so many in tact dogs in my life. We had some interesting some interesting experiences with dogs today. Most dogs here are pretty chill. They just kind of lay there or walk around, without bugging you, but every once in a while there are some dumb dogs. So, at the last house we went to today, there were three dogs that came up to us barking. They really weren’t running viciously, just walking quickly while barking. The puppy of the bunch was the one that barked for the longest time. They made no attempt to bite anyone, just kind of stood there, and when we didn’t move, they sat around. Then later, while we were in the truck, a dog saw us coming and ran into the road to bark at us, and stayed in the road, just kept walking a little bit forward and barking back at us, while we were trying to move forward. It was funny.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
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.
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.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
So, there is not a lot of speed to this internet questions, so I will have to write. Lets see, the training with the SANAA tech was actually informative. His slide presentation had over 300 slides, most of them with very large paragraphs, so it was definitely boring at times. THe thing with spanish is that while I could understand everything he said, I couldn't do it if I wasn't paying attention. I don't remember what I put in the last blog, so forgive me if I have repeated that little tid bit.
We are leaving Pespire Saturday, so I packed the last night. My bag is huge, I only left the barest minimum out. Before packing I reread all the letters I have received which was very nice (I was trying to cut out weight, so they had to go). It was nice to have so many to read. I was packing up in my room because I thought that only my brother was home, but as I later found out, my parents have arrived very quietly. I really think this family is made up ninjas because I never hear them. I do love my family though, my Mom has said many times that I am her fourth daughter, and the oldest.
Not sure if I told you this story, but here it goes;
A while ago now, before Semana Santa, I had been invited to go to San Lorenzo with my sister. Well, I had no idea if my mother was going, so I had to ask her. Note: We can't travel without parents during training. Well, my mother made a huge deal of it, saying that I was an example for my younger sisters, that I wont travel without her. For me it was a little uncomfortable, and I had to explain to everyone why I had to ask. Last night she repeated this story to other people, so I know she wont mind me sharing it with you.
Ok, we have our despidida (going away party) tonight and I have to get going.
Jill
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