TOP 11 LIST
Witnessed by Christine during her first three months in Honduras.
1.You must, under no circumstances, shower after sweating. If you decide to shower after doing any sort of physical exercise, you will die a horrid death that involves your muscles freezing up and your heart stopping. This has been witnessed by most Hondurans since they will explain how their aunt or uncle died under these same conditions.
2.You must, under no circumstances, use soap in the shower after sweating. The chemicals from the soap will seep into your pores. The result—death. Once again witnessed by many Honduran families who have relatives who have unfortunately died from this.
3.After eating soup, under no circumstances, can you drink a cold beverage. Absolutely not. If you choose to drink a cold beverage, you will die from the dramatic change in temperature that the body experiences.
4.To cool your body down on an extremely hot day, you must drink a hot beverage like coffee, tea, boiling water, etc. Once you sweat all of the heat out of your body, your body cools down. You will feel refreshed and ready to take on the heat again. Of course there are a few side effects—a wet shirt or pants from sweating, dizziness, and dehydration. But, DON'T YOU DARE DRINK A COLD BEVERAGE.
5.A person with a lot of acne on their face is most certainly thinking about sex or looking for a sexual partner. The poor parents of this child must live in shame while their neighbors judge the youngster for being promiscuous.
6.When someone falls and hurts themselves, you must run and grab the salt. After rubbing salt on the wound—open or closed—the wounded person will begin to feel better. Sometimes children cry uncontrollably after hurting themselves, mostly because they know the salt is on the way.
7.Red meat is bad for you but it is a necessity for maintaining a healthy diet. Children do not grow unless they eat red meat. It is only for those with strong stomachs and a daring nature. Side effects include diarrhea, bloated arms and legs, and pain.
8.Cold milk is always contaminated. In order to safely drink milk, you must boil it and drink it immediately. This includes the consumption of milk with cereal, bread, or donuts. Image—corn flakes and boiling milk. It is a typical Honduran breakfast....yummmm.
9.Laxatives cure all stomach problems. First, you must get a massage from an old lady who gives you permission to take the laxatives. The massage cleans the system and the laxatives kill anything bad living in your stomach.
10.Walking on a cold floor with bare feet will give you a cold or you could potentially get warts. If you are wearing shoes but you have a cold, you cannot walk on a wet floor. Your cold will get worse when the water somehow seeps through your shoes.
11. When a woman has her period or is suffering from a cold, she cannot go to the cemetery. If she decides to go to the cemetery, she will experience weakness and death due to the decaying bodies in the graveyard.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
Being a statistic
I have had plenty of time to ponder recently, since there is not much happening in my site. I look for ways to "look busy" while actually remaining unoccupied. So, for some reason or another, I started thinking about the number of ways that I have already become a PC Honduras statistic. PC has two loves: (1) statistics and (2) acronyms (i.e. PCV-Peace Corps Volunteer, PCT-Peace Corps Trainee, FBT-Field Based Training, APCD-Assistant Peace Corps Country Director). We had plenty of Safety and Security sessions with our beloved Safety and Security Officer (I'm guessing that the acronym for this is SSO!), Juan Carlos. He told us about all of these potential statistics we could fall into. I always thought that I would somehow avoid that bad ones and fall into the good ones. Haha! What was I thinking!
1) In each training class, about 5-10% of PCTs drop out of training. Check. We lost 3 of the 51 initial trainees. But, I fell on the good side of this statistic.
2) 95% of volunteers have some sort of safety or security issue. Check.
Unfortunately, I had to change host families and later realized that I was missing some money.
3) 75% of technology either gets broken or stolen. Check.
My computer got a really bad virus the second day I got to my site! I ended up putting Ubuntu, a Linux operating system on my computer instead of Windows.
4) More than 50% of volunteers experience the feeling of boredom/uselessness/frustration/happiness all in the same day. Check.
I have felt bored, frustrated, and happy all in one day. Most days, I feel a bit of each one in the course of an hour.
5) 60% of volunteers have been told that a rapid change in body temperature causes an immediate death. Check.
I have heard this one various times. Never shower after physical activity because the rapid change of body temperature and entrance of soap chemicals in one's pores is life threatening. So far, three people have died from this (or so I've been told). Also, drinking a cold beverage after eating a hot food (for example, soup) will also cause the same reaction in one's body.
Warning: The statistics are made up so please do not believe the exact percentage. I am conjecturing based on my personal beliefs!
1) In each training class, about 5-10% of PCTs drop out of training. Check. We lost 3 of the 51 initial trainees. But, I fell on the good side of this statistic.
2) 95% of volunteers have some sort of safety or security issue. Check.
Unfortunately, I had to change host families and later realized that I was missing some money.
3) 75% of technology either gets broken or stolen. Check.
My computer got a really bad virus the second day I got to my site! I ended up putting Ubuntu, a Linux operating system on my computer instead of Windows.
4) More than 50% of volunteers experience the feeling of boredom/uselessness/frustration/happiness all in the same day. Check.
I have felt bored, frustrated, and happy all in one day. Most days, I feel a bit of each one in the course of an hour.
5) 60% of volunteers have been told that a rapid change in body temperature causes an immediate death. Check.
I have heard this one various times. Never shower after physical activity because the rapid change of body temperature and entrance of soap chemicals in one's pores is life threatening. So far, three people have died from this (or so I've been told). Also, drinking a cold beverage after eating a hot food (for example, soup) will also cause the same reaction in one's body.
Warning: The statistics are made up so please do not believe the exact percentage. I am conjecturing based on my personal beliefs!
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Last days of Pre Service Training
As many of you have already seen on the news, Mel Zelaya returned to Honduras two weeks ago. What effect did it have on PC H15? Well, following the tradition of our training class, we were delayed another five days. We were not allowed to swear in on September 25 instead on September 30. The PC communicated with us using text messages informing us of any toque de queda (curfew) that may be in place for 24 hours or only overnight. Due to the curfew, we missed two days of training. On Tuesday, our project managers left the training center running to get home before the 4pm curfew and on Wednesday and Thursday we did not have training. So even though it was tough having another delay in our service, I had a great time during the two free days. I lived in an area called Las Cañadas. There were a lot of volunteers that lived around me and we were able to get together and hang out in our free time. One day we played a bunch of board games and hung out. The next day we hung out again but I cannot remember what we did! Needless to say, I had a lot more fun during the “stay-in-your-house, don’t move, and be sure to freak out” curfew than I would have had at training. The only negative was that they replaced the two days of training we missed with four days—hmm…maybe our trainers aren’t math majors? This would have been fine, but there was nothing to do with two extra days of training. We ended up making envelopes one day??? Don’t worry I asked the same question…WHY? Well, I guess it was the most productive thing they could think of or they forgot that we are all over the age of 10. All in all, the extra days served one great purpose: we were able to stay an extra weekend in Zarabanda and have a ton of fun.
On Saturday, we played a PAM (Protected Areas Management) v. Youth Development soccer game. The first half was a blow out with PAM kicking our butts but once we got all of our players, YD held its own. In PC fashion, we ended in a tie 1-1 (not including the score from the first half!). After the game, we went directly to our friend Ryan’s host family’s house. They wanted to throw a barbeque for us to celebrate us almost being volunteers. It was great! They made us carne asada, rice, and tortillas. Side note: In Honduras, they serve everyone on individual plates instead of buffet style. I think I like the Honduran way but it is still weird to be waited on by one person who is serving food, one who is serving Coke, and one who is giving napkins. After the dinner, everyone gets an individual slice of cake or dessert that is served exactly the same way. Oh, and there are options between types of pop: Coke, 7-Up, or Banana flavored pop. Back to the party, we had a great time hanging out for our last weekend. Unfortunately, some people had to leave before the band arrived. One band member was a friend of Ryan’s host dad so they came later and played until 11 (I think). We danced bachata, merengue, salsa, and regeton (I do not know if the spelling of those is correct b/c of the difference in English and Spanish phonetics!). I left with one of my friends a little before 9 because my host family usually goes to sleep at 9. Little did I know, they were having a party as well. I still do not know for whom or what the party was for but I got to eat the same exact plate of food served the exact same way as the barbeque.
On Sunday, a group of us went mountain climbing in Valle de Angeles. Valle de Angeles is about ten minutes away from our neighborhood and usually you can find a jalon (hitchhike). It is very common in Honduras and I am guessing this is the reason most people own pick-up trucks. There is a protected area that sits on the outskirts of Tegucigalpa called La Tigra. La Tigra is easily assessable from the main highways and hosts a lot of beautiful nature. We went hiking to a waterfall that some of our fellow Muni-D (municipal development) volunteers had hiked to the day before (while we were playing soccer without them!). The waterfalls were beautiful and we spent a long time just exploring the area around the waterfalls looking for a path to the largest one. We tried many different paths which involved me falling on my butt various times due to my inability to walk downhill and the wet soil. My YD friends already know that I cannot walk downhill so they were expecting the fall; however, the PAMers that were with us did not realize how clumsy I am and tried to save me! I am happy to say that we all made it down safely and enjoyed walking in the waters surrounding the waterfall. We hiked back into Valle de Angeles and went to eat lunch at a touristy restaurant in the center of town.
The next few days were filled with after-training bar stops and dinner at various bars and restaurants around our neighborhood. As a training class, we got along really well and it was great to spend a few more days together before being separated for two years.
On Saturday, we played a PAM (Protected Areas Management) v. Youth Development soccer game. The first half was a blow out with PAM kicking our butts but once we got all of our players, YD held its own. In PC fashion, we ended in a tie 1-1 (not including the score from the first half!). After the game, we went directly to our friend Ryan’s host family’s house. They wanted to throw a barbeque for us to celebrate us almost being volunteers. It was great! They made us carne asada, rice, and tortillas. Side note: In Honduras, they serve everyone on individual plates instead of buffet style. I think I like the Honduran way but it is still weird to be waited on by one person who is serving food, one who is serving Coke, and one who is giving napkins. After the dinner, everyone gets an individual slice of cake or dessert that is served exactly the same way. Oh, and there are options between types of pop: Coke, 7-Up, or Banana flavored pop. Back to the party, we had a great time hanging out for our last weekend. Unfortunately, some people had to leave before the band arrived. One band member was a friend of Ryan’s host dad so they came later and played until 11 (I think). We danced bachata, merengue, salsa, and regeton (I do not know if the spelling of those is correct b/c of the difference in English and Spanish phonetics!). I left with one of my friends a little before 9 because my host family usually goes to sleep at 9. Little did I know, they were having a party as well. I still do not know for whom or what the party was for but I got to eat the same exact plate of food served the exact same way as the barbeque.
On Sunday, a group of us went mountain climbing in Valle de Angeles. Valle de Angeles is about ten minutes away from our neighborhood and usually you can find a jalon (hitchhike). It is very common in Honduras and I am guessing this is the reason most people own pick-up trucks. There is a protected area that sits on the outskirts of Tegucigalpa called La Tigra. La Tigra is easily assessable from the main highways and hosts a lot of beautiful nature. We went hiking to a waterfall that some of our fellow Muni-D (municipal development) volunteers had hiked to the day before (while we were playing soccer without them!). The waterfalls were beautiful and we spent a long time just exploring the area around the waterfalls looking for a path to the largest one. We tried many different paths which involved me falling on my butt various times due to my inability to walk downhill and the wet soil. My YD friends already know that I cannot walk downhill so they were expecting the fall; however, the PAMers that were with us did not realize how clumsy I am and tried to save me! I am happy to say that we all made it down safely and enjoyed walking in the waters surrounding the waterfall. We hiked back into Valle de Angeles and went to eat lunch at a touristy restaurant in the center of town.
The next few days were filled with after-training bar stops and dinner at various bars and restaurants around our neighborhood. As a training class, we got along really well and it was great to spend a few more days together before being separated for two years.
Monday, October 5, 2009
My new site
Well...on September 30, I finally swore in as a volunteer! Training usually consists of 11 weeks of PST and FBT; however, we spent 13.5 weeks in training-3 in the DR, 1 in Miami, 1 in Zarabanda before leaving for FBT, 6.5 in Talanga for FBT, and 2 in Zarabanda waiting to be sworn in. It was definitely a long trip but we did it and it was worth it after all. I think I was most worried about completing more than three months of training for no reason. Meaning--I would not like my community or my community would not like me. Well, it is actually the exact opposite. I love my community and they seem to really like me. I have heard a lot about the old volunteer but I expected that. My community has had volunteers for the past 12 years so I frequently hear about the past volunteers. I enjoy hearing about them because it shows the community really accepts and loves their volunteers. I have already felt this acceptance. One of my counterparts came into Zarabanda to bring me to my site. She treats me like her daughter (I would even say that she is a good comparison to my mom). She is awesome. She loves to cook for me, invite me to her house, talk to me, show me around the community, scare people into taking care of me, dance with me, take me to church, invite me to other people^s parties, etc. All of these things have happened since I arrived here on Thursday afternoon. She told me that when she saw me she knew I was going to be her daughter for two years. I cannot express my gratitude enough for this woman. She is the perfect example of why I came to this country to help its people.
I have many stories written down but I do not have the wireless code so that I can log my laptop into the wireless internet here. Yep...wireless internet and airconditioning all in one office. If you need to find me, you know where to look!
Another update coming soon since I have no excuses anymore! Well, the electricity does go out about three times a week but I have no complaints.
I have many stories written down but I do not have the wireless code so that I can log my laptop into the wireless internet here. Yep...wireless internet and airconditioning all in one office. If you need to find me, you know where to look!
Another update coming soon since I have no excuses anymore! Well, the electricity does go out about three times a week but I have no complaints.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Weekend Update
Written on 9.6.2009
Only one more week of FBT! I cannot believe that I have been in Talanga for five weeks and less than three weeks left before I swear in as a volunteer! Last week was filled with self-directed projects and individual study/interest sessions. My Spanish class finished our project which involved giving a “charla” or a presentation to a group of Scouts. We decided to attempt to replicate the “Adopt a Highway” program in the States. If you are not familiar with the program, a group of people get together and adopt a road. They are responsible for keeping it clean and making sure it looks presentable. Since the garbage collection system is nearly inexistent here, we thought it would be a good idea to start a program like “Adopt a Highway”. We found a group of Boys Scouts (they call it Scouts because it is for both girls and boys) who seemed very motivated to help us. We learned over time that we had been deceived and they did not have a lot of motivation. Oh Well! Due to our lack of time in Talanga, we continued working with them but we changed our idea so that is was completed by us with the addition of the Scout troop at the end. My Spanish class only meets 4 out of 5 days each week because we spend one day working on our project. The unfortunate part about working with a Scout troop is that they only meet on Saturdays and we only have class Monday-Friday. Our project started taking up a lot of our personal time. Now, I do not want to sound like a complainer but we only get a few hours of personal time every week and spending it doing more training-mandated tasks is not fun! Anyways, we painted a sign that said the troop had adopted the park and is now responsible for its cleanliness as well as making them individually sign a contract. We talked to them about the importance of throwing trash into trash cans and why we need to conserve our water. To no surprise to us, the meeting started an hour after we scheduled it putting a time constraint on our plans. We had planned on doing some art projects made of trash but we ran out of time. All in all, everything went really well. We collected about ten bags full of trash in an area the size of a football field. I had a great time doing some demonstrations and talking with the children.
Sorry about the backwards timetable I am writing…on Saturday, the Honduras 15 training group had to meet in Teguz for our migration forms. We left from Talanga at 6:30 AM and drove to Cantarranas to pick up the Municipal Development group. The PAMers came from a different direction on their own bus. We waited around in the office from about 8:30 to 12:00 when the computers broke down so we had to return after eating lunch. The PC did not provide us with lunch; however, they brought us to the street lined with overpriced American fast food restaurants to eat. I went with a group of people to Pizza Hut. Since arriving in Honduras, I have eaten Pizza Hut pizza three times. In less than two months I have nearly triples my yearly intake of Pizza Hut! But, Pizza Hut is surprisingly clean and respectable for a chain of fast food pizza restaurants. Because I felt like going crazy, some of us went to McDonalds for McFlurries. Needless to say, I was feeling pretty terrible after eating pizza and a McFlurry. We all went back to the migration office until everyone finished completing their immigration papers. I think I am now a resident…I have no way to prove it but I think that is what they told us! Our bus arrived in Talanga around 5:30—just in time for the Honduras soccer game that started at 7!
A group of us went to a restaurant in town that puts a sheet over their wall to project the game in the largest form possible. We went there for the last game as well so I guess it is becoming a tradition. Honduras won in a fairly uneventful game but we still had a good time watching it with the animated Honduran fans at the restaurant. After a successful game, a caravan of cars starts down the main street in town. Everyone who owns a car drives in a loop around the town yelling, honking, and celebrating the win. If you happen to own a pickup truck, 30 people will climb into the bed and start jumping up and down causing the bed of the truck to nearly touch the ground. My host dad passed us hanging out of the window of a SUV, shouting and holding a Honduran scarf.
This week we have HIV/AIDS training on Monday and Tuesday. The rumor spreading is that we have to give a three-hour presentation to a group of 9th graders about safe sex, the ways to pass HIV/AIDS, protection techniques, etc. I am not looking forward to this presentation…putting a condom on a banana in front of 15-year olds. AHHH! I will write an update explaining how it goes. Then, on Wednesday and Friday we have our last technical interview. I should know a little more about my site by Friday with the possibility that I can figure it out from the clues they will give me. Next Tuesday, the 15th of September, we are returning to Zarabanda to finish up our training. I cannot believe the time is flying by as fast as it is. I am going to miss being surrounded by my group of “gringos” because we always have a great time together and we have been acting as our own support system during the long days of training.
By the way, the cream and pills from the doctor have worked effectively to take away my rash. However, the rash seems to have crawled down my leg and stuck itself to my ankle. So, now I have another rash growing on my ankle, although this time I have the correct supplies to take care of it before it gets out of control.
Have a great week! Love always.
Only one more week of FBT! I cannot believe that I have been in Talanga for five weeks and less than three weeks left before I swear in as a volunteer! Last week was filled with self-directed projects and individual study/interest sessions. My Spanish class finished our project which involved giving a “charla” or a presentation to a group of Scouts. We decided to attempt to replicate the “Adopt a Highway” program in the States. If you are not familiar with the program, a group of people get together and adopt a road. They are responsible for keeping it clean and making sure it looks presentable. Since the garbage collection system is nearly inexistent here, we thought it would be a good idea to start a program like “Adopt a Highway”. We found a group of Boys Scouts (they call it Scouts because it is for both girls and boys) who seemed very motivated to help us. We learned over time that we had been deceived and they did not have a lot of motivation. Oh Well! Due to our lack of time in Talanga, we continued working with them but we changed our idea so that is was completed by us with the addition of the Scout troop at the end. My Spanish class only meets 4 out of 5 days each week because we spend one day working on our project. The unfortunate part about working with a Scout troop is that they only meet on Saturdays and we only have class Monday-Friday. Our project started taking up a lot of our personal time. Now, I do not want to sound like a complainer but we only get a few hours of personal time every week and spending it doing more training-mandated tasks is not fun! Anyways, we painted a sign that said the troop had adopted the park and is now responsible for its cleanliness as well as making them individually sign a contract. We talked to them about the importance of throwing trash into trash cans and why we need to conserve our water. To no surprise to us, the meeting started an hour after we scheduled it putting a time constraint on our plans. We had planned on doing some art projects made of trash but we ran out of time. All in all, everything went really well. We collected about ten bags full of trash in an area the size of a football field. I had a great time doing some demonstrations and talking with the children.
Sorry about the backwards timetable I am writing…on Saturday, the Honduras 15 training group had to meet in Teguz for our migration forms. We left from Talanga at 6:30 AM and drove to Cantarranas to pick up the Municipal Development group. The PAMers came from a different direction on their own bus. We waited around in the office from about 8:30 to 12:00 when the computers broke down so we had to return after eating lunch. The PC did not provide us with lunch; however, they brought us to the street lined with overpriced American fast food restaurants to eat. I went with a group of people to Pizza Hut. Since arriving in Honduras, I have eaten Pizza Hut pizza three times. In less than two months I have nearly triples my yearly intake of Pizza Hut! But, Pizza Hut is surprisingly clean and respectable for a chain of fast food pizza restaurants. Because I felt like going crazy, some of us went to McDonalds for McFlurries. Needless to say, I was feeling pretty terrible after eating pizza and a McFlurry. We all went back to the migration office until everyone finished completing their immigration papers. I think I am now a resident…I have no way to prove it but I think that is what they told us! Our bus arrived in Talanga around 5:30—just in time for the Honduras soccer game that started at 7!
A group of us went to a restaurant in town that puts a sheet over their wall to project the game in the largest form possible. We went there for the last game as well so I guess it is becoming a tradition. Honduras won in a fairly uneventful game but we still had a good time watching it with the animated Honduran fans at the restaurant. After a successful game, a caravan of cars starts down the main street in town. Everyone who owns a car drives in a loop around the town yelling, honking, and celebrating the win. If you happen to own a pickup truck, 30 people will climb into the bed and start jumping up and down causing the bed of the truck to nearly touch the ground. My host dad passed us hanging out of the window of a SUV, shouting and holding a Honduran scarf.
This week we have HIV/AIDS training on Monday and Tuesday. The rumor spreading is that we have to give a three-hour presentation to a group of 9th graders about safe sex, the ways to pass HIV/AIDS, protection techniques, etc. I am not looking forward to this presentation…putting a condom on a banana in front of 15-year olds. AHHH! I will write an update explaining how it goes. Then, on Wednesday and Friday we have our last technical interview. I should know a little more about my site by Friday with the possibility that I can figure it out from the clues they will give me. Next Tuesday, the 15th of September, we are returning to Zarabanda to finish up our training. I cannot believe the time is flying by as fast as it is. I am going to miss being surrounded by my group of “gringos” because we always have a great time together and we have been acting as our own support system during the long days of training.
By the way, the cream and pills from the doctor have worked effectively to take away my rash. However, the rash seems to have crawled down my leg and stuck itself to my ankle. So, now I have another rash growing on my ankle, although this time I have the correct supplies to take care of it before it gets out of control.
Have a great week! Love always.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Doctor Appointment
Ok...so I had to go the doctor a few days ago. It was my first out-of-country doctors appointment. About a week ago, the back of my right leg flared up. I had a huge rash about the size of my hamstring for a few days. It was really itchy and started to swell. Last Friday, I called the PCMO (Peace Corps medical officer) basically the PC doctor and told her about the rash. She told me to apply some histemine-blocking cream daily and remain in observation throughout the weekend. Over the weekend the rash only got worse. On Monday, I told the PCMO my update and she sent me to the doctor with our logistics driver, Eric. The doctor´s office was inside a pharmacy with white bars protecting all of the prescription drugs. Hanging from the white bars, there were icicle style Christmas lights and snowflakes. The weather here is about 80 degrees everyday and I am sure they were not thinking ahead about Christmas being only a few months away. I waited for the doctor while he attended to other patients. After about 15 minutes, he called me into his office. His office was also his exam room, so he had a desk with his papers and files as well as an examination table and his medical gear. He asked me a couple of questions and I told him what was going on. The only problem I had was remembering the word for rash in Spanish! I had no idea how to say rash so I basically explained my rash as a big red and itchy spot on the back of my leg! He had already talked to the PCMO which meant that he knew what was wrong with me! Then he told me to take of my pants and lie on the table so he could look at the rash. I instantly regreted wearing my hot pink and orange striped Victoria´s Secret underwear! Now, don´t get me wrong, I did not bring any questionable underwear to serve in the PC--only granny-panties. But, showing a Honduran doctor my bright pink underwear never crossed my mind! Nevertheless, he was a very professional doctor and did not comment on my very American underwear. He prescribed me a few pills and some cream to use to help dry out the rash. Then Eric, the logistics manager, paid for my medications and we left.
Love you all! I´ll try to write another update soon!
Love you all! I´ll try to write another update soon!
Friday, August 28, 2009
Update FBT
Written on 8/25/2009
Hi everyone!
Today was the beginning of our fourth week of FBT which means that the 15th of September, our last day of FBT, is quickly approaching. Training has been great thus far. Each day is split into two sessions: Spanish and technical. Since the last time I wrote, we have been continuing our Spanish classes. We switch teachers every two weeks to prevent repetitive classes and so far both of my teachers have been great. I usually fill an entire page of paper with new vocabulary words everyday. The only problem I have is studying them! I started making note cards to help me study but I cannot imagine using some of the vocab. For example, we learned multiple ways to say “menstruation” the other day.
Ways to say menstruation in Spanish
regla—the rule
el viejo—the old one
costumbre—tradition
menstruación—menstruation
ando con la cruz roja—I’m walking with the red cross
andar con el semáforo rojo—to walk with a red stoplight
andar en sus días—to walk in her days
Now that you are enlightened with the confusion that learning Spanish has brought to my life, I can explain the activities we have been doing in technical training. We were trained in a program called “Odyssey of the Mind.” I was not familiar with the program before joining PC, but it is a program frequently used by schools in the US to promote student creativity and imagination. We were divided into groups to work on “Self-Directed Projects.” Two aspirantes (PC trainees that are still aspiring to be volunteers) and I are working on Odyssey of the Mind with a class of 5th and 6th graders. We will use the four sessions we have to teach thinking outside of the box and self-confidence. Today, we planned our first session for Friday. We are going to play chirades, taboo, and Pictionary with the children to help spark their creativity. Since creativity is smothered in the Honduran education system, imagination and thinking outside of the box are difficult tasks.
In week 3 of FBT, we had a few different TOTs (Training of Trainers). We learned about parenting in Honduras and our influence as volunteers in regards to parents. As youth volunteers, we are encouraged to work with teachers, adolescents, and parents. Since these groups have an effect on youth, we are entitled to work with all of them in different ways. A volunteer came to talk to us about her experience with Escuela para los padres. It is a class that focuses on educating parents in nutrition, discipline, life skills, etc. The parents can choose their topics or the volunteer can choose the topics on their own.
The next day we had a TOT on Dental Hygiene. Colgate has a dental hygiene program that donates toothbrushes, toothpaste, and soap to impoverished areas as long as there is a six-month commitment to educate the population about dental health. The program is rather simple but effective and fun. We did a dental hygiene chat with a group of kindergarten students to help us practice speaking and teaching. I worked with a group of knowledgeable kindergarteners that already understood the importance of brushing their teeth but we still made paper bears, sang songs, and did a skit.
On Friday, we had my favorite TOT—BASEBALL!! I was super excited and anxiously waiting for our baseball training. We went to Río Dulce, a small town outside of Talanga, to learn and practice baseball with the current volunteer’s baseball team. It was really fun. We broke into stations of hitting drills, fielding drills, and throwing drills. The team’s knowledge of the techniques was advanced so we had more fun playing a pickup game with them. The practice game was interesting because only a handful of us had experience playing baseball! But no one got hurt and everyone left with a smile on their face!
On Saturday, a group of us went to play soccer before going out to eat. I know that all of you are laughing at the thought of me playing soccer, but I am lucky to be with a group of people who do not care about including the weak in their games (or so they tell me!) I am not improving but I have stopped caring about how terrible I look while attempting to play! After a good workout, we went out to eat at a restaurant named Old House. One of the volunteers lives with the family that owns the restaurant. She always talks about how good the food is so we decided to try it. There were three choices on the menu: two beef entrees and a ham sandwich. All of us opted for the beef options and it was really good. On Friday, we had received the list of sites in which we are going to volunteer. As you can imagine, a lot of the conversation revolved around site placement.
On Sunday, I went to a farm with a group of aspirantes. One of the aspirantes lives with an amazing host family who enjoys spending time with us. Two weekends ago, they threw a birthday party for their host son. They invited all of us to spend the night celebrating with them. They made us a bunch of snack food, invited a mariachi band to play music, and bought a huge strawberry cake. The host dad enjoys showing us his culture so on Sunday, we went to his farm to spend the day with his family. Their farm is home to various animals and a family in charge of taking care of the livestock. There is a cockfighting ring, a few natural cliffs, a stream, and a few small lakes. We spent the day exploring the farm, talking with the host family, and eating a TON of typical Honduran food.
When we first arrived they made us catrachas. Catrachas are a snack food that is also eaten for breakfast, lunch, or dinner depending on the quantity given. It is a fried corn tortilla topped with refried beans and a layer of shredded white cheese that reminds me of feta. Later, we ate a meal of rice, sausage, and beef without forks! Of course, you can always use tortillas as a fork if you are Honduran; however, I failed to eat my meal with the provided tortilla utensils. I must have stared at the food for five minutes debating how to start eating it before deciding an acceptable approach. For dessert, we ate a really sweet and delicious treat—ARMADILLO! There are armadillo, which are native to the region, living on the farm. The family living on the farm hunts them and saves them for family visits. They cooked one for us after we ate dinner. It was really good! It tasted like a mix of pork and chicken, shredded and served over a fried tortilla! YUM!
Other news:
Last week, I switched host families. If you want more information on the reasoning, please send me a private message or talk to my mom. I was lucky enough to find a new host family immediately. Both parents are teachers in the school system here in Talanga and well-connected with the PC. Six years ago, a volunteer lived with them for his entire two year service. They have hosted various other volunteers, but due to the increase in work, they did not accept the invitation to host a volunteer this time. When the housing director called them and explained the situation, they were nice enough to invite me into their house the next morning. They have a son (age 9) and a daughter (age 4) and a dog that just gave birth to 7 puppies the day before I arrived. I am spending a lot of time talking with them about all aspects of life here in Honduras.
In my second technical interview, I learned more about my future site. I will be working with teachers in the TEAM (Teaching English and Methodologies) program, tutoring in math as well as teaching teachers’ math skills, translating for medical brigades that come from other countries to donate their services, and starting a baseball team. So far so good! As for which site I am going to, I am in the dark. They told me that the weather was similar to Talanga which does not help me narrow down the sites! I am not putting much effort into the site list because I think it just makes people crazy in the end. My method is to not focus on one site because I do not want to be disappointed if I end up somewhere else. Our third technical interviews start on the 9th of September. We should be receiving more information about our sites during those interviews. Site announcements are on the 17th of September and we swear in on the 25th (one week after the original swearing in date).
I am getting much better at showing with a bucket and flushing the toilet with a bucket! I never thought I would say it but I am starting to appreciate cold bucket showers! In my first host family in Talanga, I had an electro-ducha (an electric showerhead that heats the water). My host family here does not have running water but they have a small heater that heats a bucket full of water in about 10 minutes. However, I rarely use the water heater! I love coming back from my morning runs knowing that a cold bucket bath awaits me!
Hope everything is going well in the States! I will keep you posted! Love always!
Hi everyone!
Today was the beginning of our fourth week of FBT which means that the 15th of September, our last day of FBT, is quickly approaching. Training has been great thus far. Each day is split into two sessions: Spanish and technical. Since the last time I wrote, we have been continuing our Spanish classes. We switch teachers every two weeks to prevent repetitive classes and so far both of my teachers have been great. I usually fill an entire page of paper with new vocabulary words everyday. The only problem I have is studying them! I started making note cards to help me study but I cannot imagine using some of the vocab. For example, we learned multiple ways to say “menstruation” the other day.
Ways to say menstruation in Spanish
regla—the rule
el viejo—the old one
costumbre—tradition
menstruación—menstruation
ando con la cruz roja—I’m walking with the red cross
andar con el semáforo rojo—to walk with a red stoplight
andar en sus días—to walk in her days
Now that you are enlightened with the confusion that learning Spanish has brought to my life, I can explain the activities we have been doing in technical training. We were trained in a program called “Odyssey of the Mind.” I was not familiar with the program before joining PC, but it is a program frequently used by schools in the US to promote student creativity and imagination. We were divided into groups to work on “Self-Directed Projects.” Two aspirantes (PC trainees that are still aspiring to be volunteers) and I are working on Odyssey of the Mind with a class of 5th and 6th graders. We will use the four sessions we have to teach thinking outside of the box and self-confidence. Today, we planned our first session for Friday. We are going to play chirades, taboo, and Pictionary with the children to help spark their creativity. Since creativity is smothered in the Honduran education system, imagination and thinking outside of the box are difficult tasks.
In week 3 of FBT, we had a few different TOTs (Training of Trainers). We learned about parenting in Honduras and our influence as volunteers in regards to parents. As youth volunteers, we are encouraged to work with teachers, adolescents, and parents. Since these groups have an effect on youth, we are entitled to work with all of them in different ways. A volunteer came to talk to us about her experience with Escuela para los padres. It is a class that focuses on educating parents in nutrition, discipline, life skills, etc. The parents can choose their topics or the volunteer can choose the topics on their own.
The next day we had a TOT on Dental Hygiene. Colgate has a dental hygiene program that donates toothbrushes, toothpaste, and soap to impoverished areas as long as there is a six-month commitment to educate the population about dental health. The program is rather simple but effective and fun. We did a dental hygiene chat with a group of kindergarten students to help us practice speaking and teaching. I worked with a group of knowledgeable kindergarteners that already understood the importance of brushing their teeth but we still made paper bears, sang songs, and did a skit.
On Friday, we had my favorite TOT—BASEBALL!! I was super excited and anxiously waiting for our baseball training. We went to Río Dulce, a small town outside of Talanga, to learn and practice baseball with the current volunteer’s baseball team. It was really fun. We broke into stations of hitting drills, fielding drills, and throwing drills. The team’s knowledge of the techniques was advanced so we had more fun playing a pickup game with them. The practice game was interesting because only a handful of us had experience playing baseball! But no one got hurt and everyone left with a smile on their face!
On Saturday, a group of us went to play soccer before going out to eat. I know that all of you are laughing at the thought of me playing soccer, but I am lucky to be with a group of people who do not care about including the weak in their games (or so they tell me!) I am not improving but I have stopped caring about how terrible I look while attempting to play! After a good workout, we went out to eat at a restaurant named Old House. One of the volunteers lives with the family that owns the restaurant. She always talks about how good the food is so we decided to try it. There were three choices on the menu: two beef entrees and a ham sandwich. All of us opted for the beef options and it was really good. On Friday, we had received the list of sites in which we are going to volunteer. As you can imagine, a lot of the conversation revolved around site placement.
On Sunday, I went to a farm with a group of aspirantes. One of the aspirantes lives with an amazing host family who enjoys spending time with us. Two weekends ago, they threw a birthday party for their host son. They invited all of us to spend the night celebrating with them. They made us a bunch of snack food, invited a mariachi band to play music, and bought a huge strawberry cake. The host dad enjoys showing us his culture so on Sunday, we went to his farm to spend the day with his family. Their farm is home to various animals and a family in charge of taking care of the livestock. There is a cockfighting ring, a few natural cliffs, a stream, and a few small lakes. We spent the day exploring the farm, talking with the host family, and eating a TON of typical Honduran food.
When we first arrived they made us catrachas. Catrachas are a snack food that is also eaten for breakfast, lunch, or dinner depending on the quantity given. It is a fried corn tortilla topped with refried beans and a layer of shredded white cheese that reminds me of feta. Later, we ate a meal of rice, sausage, and beef without forks! Of course, you can always use tortillas as a fork if you are Honduran; however, I failed to eat my meal with the provided tortilla utensils. I must have stared at the food for five minutes debating how to start eating it before deciding an acceptable approach. For dessert, we ate a really sweet and delicious treat—ARMADILLO! There are armadillo, which are native to the region, living on the farm. The family living on the farm hunts them and saves them for family visits. They cooked one for us after we ate dinner. It was really good! It tasted like a mix of pork and chicken, shredded and served over a fried tortilla! YUM!
Other news:
Last week, I switched host families. If you want more information on the reasoning, please send me a private message or talk to my mom. I was lucky enough to find a new host family immediately. Both parents are teachers in the school system here in Talanga and well-connected with the PC. Six years ago, a volunteer lived with them for his entire two year service. They have hosted various other volunteers, but due to the increase in work, they did not accept the invitation to host a volunteer this time. When the housing director called them and explained the situation, they were nice enough to invite me into their house the next morning. They have a son (age 9) and a daughter (age 4) and a dog that just gave birth to 7 puppies the day before I arrived. I am spending a lot of time talking with them about all aspects of life here in Honduras.
In my second technical interview, I learned more about my future site. I will be working with teachers in the TEAM (Teaching English and Methodologies) program, tutoring in math as well as teaching teachers’ math skills, translating for medical brigades that come from other countries to donate their services, and starting a baseball team. So far so good! As for which site I am going to, I am in the dark. They told me that the weather was similar to Talanga which does not help me narrow down the sites! I am not putting much effort into the site list because I think it just makes people crazy in the end. My method is to not focus on one site because I do not want to be disappointed if I end up somewhere else. Our third technical interviews start on the 9th of September. We should be receiving more information about our sites during those interviews. Site announcements are on the 17th of September and we swear in on the 25th (one week after the original swearing in date).
I am getting much better at showing with a bucket and flushing the toilet with a bucket! I never thought I would say it but I am starting to appreciate cold bucket showers! In my first host family in Talanga, I had an electro-ducha (an electric showerhead that heats the water). My host family here does not have running water but they have a small heater that heats a bucket full of water in about 10 minutes. However, I rarely use the water heater! I love coming back from my morning runs knowing that a cold bucket bath awaits me!
Hope everything is going well in the States! I will keep you posted! Love always!
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Field Based Training Week 1
Written on August 9, 2009
Since we started FBT (Field Based Training) on Monday, August 3, our training has intensified. We now have training from 7:30 to 4:30 everyday, which includes 4 hours of Spanish class in the morning and 4 hours of technical training in the afternoon. Usually, we arrive at INFOP—the training center we are using in Talanga—at 7:25 and work through lunch. FBT is divided based on project so I am only with 17 people right now. The other two programs are in other sites around Honduras. It was a big change going from 50 to 17…and it will be even more difficult when we go from 17 to ALONE! Most of us think training in counteractive in preparing us to live on our own because we have everything prearranged for us. For example, I wake up at 5:40 to meet a friend to run at 6:00. We run until around 6:30 when I come home, take a shower, and eat breakfast. My host mom prepares my breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Although I try to help her by washing my dishes, my responsibilities are limited. I come home to eat lunch everyday and then after training ends at 4:30, I return home to eat dinner and do my homework before going to bed. My schedule seems very similar to that of many high school students!
I do have to wash my own clothes (one advantage to PC Dominican Republic, the host family was responsible for washing my clothes!). My first hand-washing experience happened today at 5:00am. I usually wake up early since my bed time is between 9:00 and 9:30. When I woke up this morning without any clean clothes, I decided it was time to finally try my luck at hand-washing. I have been avoiding washing my clothes for this reason—how do you hand-wash clothes? Well, I quickly learned. I spent about 2 hours washing a weeks worth of clothing. My towel is as stiff as a board and most of my clothes smell overwhelmingly like soap. I will have to try again next time since rewashing is NOT an option!
Some of my friends from Muni-D came to visit us today. Municipal development is one of the other projects along with youth development and PAM (protected areas management). The Muni-D group is completing FBT in a site about an hour away from Talanga. Since the towns are close to each other, they took a bus into Talanga to see us. We decided to take them on a hike to a cave that is a popular local destination. First, you have to climb up to a white cross then climb another hill before veering to the left and finding the cave. Some of my friends from YD and I went to find the cave on Saturday but we did not bring headlamps. The cave is too dark to explore without headlamps or flashlights so today we came prepared. There were a ton of bats flying around inside and it smelled strongly of sulfur. We walked in and looked around but we could not find a pathway to take us deeper into the cave. We headed back down the mountain a different way than we came up in order to see more scenery.
This is a beautiful country and I am loving my time here. So far, I have very few complaints. For instance, I wish they cooked with less fat and more vegetables. But, this is a change I can make when I live on my own. I have 4.5 more weeks of FBT before we return to Zarabanda for the final stages of our training. I will keep you updated.
Since we started FBT (Field Based Training) on Monday, August 3, our training has intensified. We now have training from 7:30 to 4:30 everyday, which includes 4 hours of Spanish class in the morning and 4 hours of technical training in the afternoon. Usually, we arrive at INFOP—the training center we are using in Talanga—at 7:25 and work through lunch. FBT is divided based on project so I am only with 17 people right now. The other two programs are in other sites around Honduras. It was a big change going from 50 to 17…and it will be even more difficult when we go from 17 to ALONE! Most of us think training in counteractive in preparing us to live on our own because we have everything prearranged for us. For example, I wake up at 5:40 to meet a friend to run at 6:00. We run until around 6:30 when I come home, take a shower, and eat breakfast. My host mom prepares my breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Although I try to help her by washing my dishes, my responsibilities are limited. I come home to eat lunch everyday and then after training ends at 4:30, I return home to eat dinner and do my homework before going to bed. My schedule seems very similar to that of many high school students!
I do have to wash my own clothes (one advantage to PC Dominican Republic, the host family was responsible for washing my clothes!). My first hand-washing experience happened today at 5:00am. I usually wake up early since my bed time is between 9:00 and 9:30. When I woke up this morning without any clean clothes, I decided it was time to finally try my luck at hand-washing. I have been avoiding washing my clothes for this reason—how do you hand-wash clothes? Well, I quickly learned. I spent about 2 hours washing a weeks worth of clothing. My towel is as stiff as a board and most of my clothes smell overwhelmingly like soap. I will have to try again next time since rewashing is NOT an option!
Some of my friends from Muni-D came to visit us today. Municipal development is one of the other projects along with youth development and PAM (protected areas management). The Muni-D group is completing FBT in a site about an hour away from Talanga. Since the towns are close to each other, they took a bus into Talanga to see us. We decided to take them on a hike to a cave that is a popular local destination. First, you have to climb up to a white cross then climb another hill before veering to the left and finding the cave. Some of my friends from YD and I went to find the cave on Saturday but we did not bring headlamps. The cave is too dark to explore without headlamps or flashlights so today we came prepared. There were a ton of bats flying around inside and it smelled strongly of sulfur. We walked in and looked around but we could not find a pathway to take us deeper into the cave. We headed back down the mountain a different way than we came up in order to see more scenery.
This is a beautiful country and I am loving my time here. So far, I have very few complaints. For instance, I wish they cooked with less fat and more vegetables. But, this is a change I can make when I live on my own. I have 4.5 more weeks of FBT before we return to Zarabanda for the final stages of our training. I will keep you updated.
Dominican Thoughts
Written on 7/30/2009
Here is a recap/summary of my time in the DR:
1) It took me about two weeks to figure out the family ties that connected my family with my neighbors. By the time I figured it out, it was already time to leave. I learned that my host mom did not get along with her husband’s family. This is problematic because my host family lived in the same building as my host dad’s parents and sister. His sister lived in the apartment next to ours and his parents lived in the house below us.
2) The DR is probably the hottest place I have ever visited. I sweat more than I thought was humanly possible (and I was not the worst!). Water had more value to me than other products. Unfortunately, the water was not potable and even if it were potable, it only came once a week to the house.
3) The education system did not seem very strong due to my host brother’s age and literacy level. He was learning to read in fourth grade. I thought he may be the exception but on our volunteer visit, the volunteer explained to us the sad truth about education in the DR.
4) We went to El Ramón to visit a youth development volunteer. She was doing multiple projects including a women’s group, HIV/AIDS awareness, a book club, English classes, a library project, a world mural project, etc. Mountains surrounded her house which overlooked an incredibly beautiful valley. Her site was exactly what I expected in a PC site. I hope to live in a site similar to hers.
5) We frequented the Car Wash. It is actually called the “Car Wash” in Spanish, but in reality, the concept is foreign. People bring their dirty cars to get washed and while waiting, they drink a few beers. When their car is ready, they drive home! However, it has turned into a place to drink more than a place to wash cars. Typical as it may be, they play music extremely loud and people dance until 2 am.
6) One night after going to the Car Wash with my host mom and her brother, we walked back to Los Cocos at 2:30 in the morning. My host brother and his friends started talking “Dominican” (meaning: virtually impossible to understand). They kept saying, “Queremo arro” but I did not know what they were trying to say. I finally deduced that they wanted to eat rice…but how? Well, this is how: (1) You make a fire in the middle of the street using cinder blocks, sticks, and a large pot. (2) Each person runs to their house looking for the ingredients to make the rice. One guy ran to find a pot, another found rice, another brought oil, etc. (3) Begin cooking and wait! At 3 am, we were cooking rice in the middle of a dirt road! My host mom and her friend were in charge of cooking! The rice took forever to cook but it was worth the wait! (4) EAT! We ended up eating around 4:30 and I went to bed at 5! It was an amazing experience. We enjoyed it so much that our families made us a “locrio” (rice with meat) for our going-away party.
7) Living without electric and water is probably not what I am looking for in my Honduran site. I hope to have the basic essentials; however, I have redefined “essential” in my time living abroad. Tomorrow, I am buying a cell phone! Yes…it is essential with the current political situation and the potential for hurricanes!
8) Both the training center and the training staff in the DR were amazing. I enjoyed my time there and I hope to return at some point. I loved living by other volunteers (something that is not the same here in Honduras). The days seemed to pass faster in the DR than they do here…I have not figured out why.
Here is a recap/summary of my time in the DR:
1) It took me about two weeks to figure out the family ties that connected my family with my neighbors. By the time I figured it out, it was already time to leave. I learned that my host mom did not get along with her husband’s family. This is problematic because my host family lived in the same building as my host dad’s parents and sister. His sister lived in the apartment next to ours and his parents lived in the house below us.
2) The DR is probably the hottest place I have ever visited. I sweat more than I thought was humanly possible (and I was not the worst!). Water had more value to me than other products. Unfortunately, the water was not potable and even if it were potable, it only came once a week to the house.
3) The education system did not seem very strong due to my host brother’s age and literacy level. He was learning to read in fourth grade. I thought he may be the exception but on our volunteer visit, the volunteer explained to us the sad truth about education in the DR.
4) We went to El Ramón to visit a youth development volunteer. She was doing multiple projects including a women’s group, HIV/AIDS awareness, a book club, English classes, a library project, a world mural project, etc. Mountains surrounded her house which overlooked an incredibly beautiful valley. Her site was exactly what I expected in a PC site. I hope to live in a site similar to hers.
5) We frequented the Car Wash. It is actually called the “Car Wash” in Spanish, but in reality, the concept is foreign. People bring their dirty cars to get washed and while waiting, they drink a few beers. When their car is ready, they drive home! However, it has turned into a place to drink more than a place to wash cars. Typical as it may be, they play music extremely loud and people dance until 2 am.
6) One night after going to the Car Wash with my host mom and her brother, we walked back to Los Cocos at 2:30 in the morning. My host brother and his friends started talking “Dominican” (meaning: virtually impossible to understand). They kept saying, “Queremo arro” but I did not know what they were trying to say. I finally deduced that they wanted to eat rice…but how? Well, this is how: (1) You make a fire in the middle of the street using cinder blocks, sticks, and a large pot. (2) Each person runs to their house looking for the ingredients to make the rice. One guy ran to find a pot, another found rice, another brought oil, etc. (3) Begin cooking and wait! At 3 am, we were cooking rice in the middle of a dirt road! My host mom and her friend were in charge of cooking! The rice took forever to cook but it was worth the wait! (4) EAT! We ended up eating around 4:30 and I went to bed at 5! It was an amazing experience. We enjoyed it so much that our families made us a “locrio” (rice with meat) for our going-away party.
7) Living without electric and water is probably not what I am looking for in my Honduran site. I hope to have the basic essentials; however, I have redefined “essential” in my time living abroad. Tomorrow, I am buying a cell phone! Yes…it is essential with the current political situation and the potential for hurricanes!
8) Both the training center and the training staff in the DR were amazing. I enjoyed my time there and I hope to return at some point. I loved living by other volunteers (something that is not the same here in Honduras). The days seemed to pass faster in the DR than they do here…I have not figured out why.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Honduras Arrival
Written on Wednesday, July 29.
¡Bienvenidos a Honduras!
I finally made it! Yesterday, around 11:40 AM (Mountain Time), my flight from Miami landed in Tegucigalpa. Tegucigalpa has one of the world’s shortest international runways. Since it is a dangerous airport, the PC only allows us to fly with an American company. Thank goodness! When the pilot told us to prepare for landing (in 30 minutes), I had no idea what was in store for us. The plane started descending from the clouds causing more turbulence than I expected. Adding to the bouncing plane, the runway is in a valley surrounded by small mountains. I do not know how it works but the airplane feels like it is coasting above the ground for at least 5 minutes. I could practically see inside people’s houses, watch their TV, and say hi to their kids! A few volunteers mentioned the thought the getting stuck in the power lines…You get the picture! But, I am here and I am safe.
When we got off the plane, we had to go through immigration. They gave us 90-day tourist visas. During training, we go through the process of becoming residents which allows us to stay for the two-year service. Our training director was waiting for us by the baggage claim, happy that we finally made it. He flew to the DR to train us but has been waiting since then for us to arrive in Honduras. Some PC staff helped us get our bags through customs which involved scanning our bags for suspicious items. The staff led us outside to six PC land cruiser SUVs where we put our luggage based on our ‘pueblo’. The fed us Pizza Hut pizza, Quaker oatmeal cookies, juice, water, and fruit. I have a feeling that will be the last American food we have for awhile!
We piled into the vans to be escorted to the training center in Zarabanda. Zarabanda is about 30 minutes from the airport. It is a quaint, small town in the mountains. For the first time in a month, we did not sweat when we walked around outside. It was incredible! The temperature here is amazing—around 70 degrees with a breeze. The training center is similar to the DR Training Center but mostly indoors. Instead of cooking food for us at the center, our Honduran host families will pack us lunches in Tupperware!
My host family is amazing. I was unsure about my situation at first because my host mom is only 23! It turns out that her mother has been living in Spain for the past few years. Her father, two brothers, husband, and daughter live in the house. My host brother (age: 9) is adorable. He loves to play Frisbee, baseball, Power Rangers, etc. We already have plans for the entire week! My older host brother (age: 18) is very cool. He enjoys watching movies, reading, playing video games, playing soccer, etc. He has an entire movie collection that he offered to me! Since there is a PC and country-wide curfew, I know what I will do after 9 pm—MOVIES! My host grandpa is also very nice. He talks to me about different issues involving the US, Spain, and Honduras. My host dad is 28 and works in construction. I do not think that I will be seeing him very often. My host mom does not work outside of the house, but she takes care of 2 year-old daughter.
My house is about triple the size of my DR house but completely different. I have a HUGE room with a double bed, a sofa, a TV, and plenty of floor space. My host family has internet and cable TV—there is hope for my service!! I watched Cinderella III with my younger host brother yesterday before my host grandpa turned on Telenovelas (Spanish soap operas). They are rather entertaining as well as good Spanish practice.
As you can see, I am having a great time. I am excited to continue training and become a volunteer on Sept. 25, 2009. I leave for FBT on Sunday—a 7 week training that is specific to youth development.
¡Bienvenidos a Honduras!
I finally made it! Yesterday, around 11:40 AM (Mountain Time), my flight from Miami landed in Tegucigalpa. Tegucigalpa has one of the world’s shortest international runways. Since it is a dangerous airport, the PC only allows us to fly with an American company. Thank goodness! When the pilot told us to prepare for landing (in 30 minutes), I had no idea what was in store for us. The plane started descending from the clouds causing more turbulence than I expected. Adding to the bouncing plane, the runway is in a valley surrounded by small mountains. I do not know how it works but the airplane feels like it is coasting above the ground for at least 5 minutes. I could practically see inside people’s houses, watch their TV, and say hi to their kids! A few volunteers mentioned the thought the getting stuck in the power lines…You get the picture! But, I am here and I am safe.
When we got off the plane, we had to go through immigration. They gave us 90-day tourist visas. During training, we go through the process of becoming residents which allows us to stay for the two-year service. Our training director was waiting for us by the baggage claim, happy that we finally made it. He flew to the DR to train us but has been waiting since then for us to arrive in Honduras. Some PC staff helped us get our bags through customs which involved scanning our bags for suspicious items. The staff led us outside to six PC land cruiser SUVs where we put our luggage based on our ‘pueblo’. The fed us Pizza Hut pizza, Quaker oatmeal cookies, juice, water, and fruit. I have a feeling that will be the last American food we have for awhile!
We piled into the vans to be escorted to the training center in Zarabanda. Zarabanda is about 30 minutes from the airport. It is a quaint, small town in the mountains. For the first time in a month, we did not sweat when we walked around outside. It was incredible! The temperature here is amazing—around 70 degrees with a breeze. The training center is similar to the DR Training Center but mostly indoors. Instead of cooking food for us at the center, our Honduran host families will pack us lunches in Tupperware!
My host family is amazing. I was unsure about my situation at first because my host mom is only 23! It turns out that her mother has been living in Spain for the past few years. Her father, two brothers, husband, and daughter live in the house. My host brother (age: 9) is adorable. He loves to play Frisbee, baseball, Power Rangers, etc. We already have plans for the entire week! My older host brother (age: 18) is very cool. He enjoys watching movies, reading, playing video games, playing soccer, etc. He has an entire movie collection that he offered to me! Since there is a PC and country-wide curfew, I know what I will do after 9 pm—MOVIES! My host grandpa is also very nice. He talks to me about different issues involving the US, Spain, and Honduras. My host dad is 28 and works in construction. I do not think that I will be seeing him very often. My host mom does not work outside of the house, but she takes care of 2 year-old daughter.
My house is about triple the size of my DR house but completely different. I have a HUGE room with a double bed, a sofa, a TV, and plenty of floor space. My host family has internet and cable TV—there is hope for my service!! I watched Cinderella III with my younger host brother yesterday before my host grandpa turned on Telenovelas (Spanish soap operas). They are rather entertaining as well as good Spanish practice.
As you can see, I am having a great time. I am excited to continue training and become a volunteer on Sept. 25, 2009. I leave for FBT on Sunday—a 7 week training that is specific to youth development.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
A view of our training...
This video was made by one of a fellow PCT, Jessie. She did a great job. I hope you enjoyed it!
Happy (belated) 4th of July
Written on 7.4.09
Happy Fourth of July!
I had a great 4th of July. At 7:10 my host mom woke me up and we walked to school with the other “gringos.” ‘Los gringos’ is basically a word for white people. It can be a loaded word but here they use it as a term of affection.
I had a few hours of class: medical, cultural, etc. Then a few people had to get vaccinations. All of the volunteers had to stay until this was finished. The women here work very hard, especially during lunch. Our PC training director does not want us to be around the house during lunch because is it very stressful for them. Basically, that means we get to hang out with each other for a few hours. My friend John and I went looking for mangoes. There are various types of fruit trees around the training center. We found a few ripe mangoes, but finding them is the easy part. You have to take a green mango and throw it into the tree, aiming for the ripe mango. John was pretty good at this so we were able to eat 5 mangoes. Of course, once everyone finds out that you have mango they come looking for you!
My host mom’s mom came to pick all of the ‘gringos’ up from school. I live in an area called Los Cocos. Everyone is related and they all host volunteers. This makes it really fun for us volunteers. We enjoy trying to figure out the family ties because this is a very different culture than our own. At first a few of the volunteers thought my host dad was my host mom’s son! We thought an older gentleman was my host dad’s dad; however, another man sleeps in the house with my host dad’s mom. I hope that made sense. If you are confused—you know how we feel!
On Friday, my host mom talked about a “baby shower.” Yes, they actually call a baby shower a “baby shower” in Spanish. I thought it would be a small family gathering at one of the apartments in the area. I was wrong. A baby shower is a great reason to throw a huge party. After my classes, I went with my host mom to help set up the baby shower. We walked over to a bar… “hmm, this can’t be right.” Well, we did not walk to the wrong place! We started setting up a bunch of really cute decorations. There were a ton of balloons and Styrofoam baby decorations. After we helped set up for a few hours, we went home to get ready. I did not bring any clothes for a party! I do not have running water, a hair dryer, makeup, cute shoes, etc. Somehow all of the Dominicans still manage to look amazing, while I look like a sweaty mess!
Around 9pm, we drove to the party in a pick-up truck filled with people. All of Los Cocos was going to this party. We arrived and the party was full! There were a few dance floors, tables in the street, and decorations around the bar. We saw a few other volunteers sitting with their host families. Then there was beer, food, and a lot of dancing. In the middle of the party, the “baby shower” games began. The first involved two blindfolded people who had to feed each other baby food. It was hysterical watching the baby food go everywhere else besides into their mouths. Next, three men sat on chairs and had to pretend that they were feeding the “babies” on their laps with a bottle. I was one of the “babies.” Of course I do not remember drinking out of a bottle, but it is much harder than I thought. The Dominican women drank it much faster than I did.
Then, everyone started to dance. It was awesome. People of all ages were dancing. The little girls dance better than most women in the United States. There is so much music here I think they are dancing from day one. All of them have rhythm—I am so jealous.
We got home around 1 AM. All of the kids were still awake and wired. From what I can see, the children here are tougher. If they fall, the parents do not come running and the child does not cry. I love my host brother and sister. They always want to color or watch movies. I am learning to play baseball with sticks. My domino skills are also evolving. Once I learn to understand the older gentleman who is trying to teach me, I will probably be a lot better.
I finally slept well last night. The water and electricity are unreliable here. The water comes on at night usually. The electricity is more sporadic. We usually have electricity when it is dark outside, but during the day it is never consistent. My host mom made me a mango smoothie this morning (7/5/2009). We had to wait until around noon until the electricity finally came back. They are used to it so many of them have generators in their houses. My host family has one for the fridge but the other two broke. They are very expensive to fix so my family has learned to live without electricity. Most of the community spends time outside which makes electricity of minimal importance.
Anyways, I think that is all for now. I love you and I hope everything is going well in the states. I am going to the grocery store for the first time tomorrow. It is supposed to be similar to the supermarkets in the States. I need to buy a bag big enough to fit my laptop. The small backpack I brought is perfect for going to class with my books, but it is too small for my laptop. I wish I would have thought about that! I also need shampoo. My hair is very greasy here because I take bucket showers. My host mom offered me her two-in-one shampoo and conditioner, but my hair is greasy after an hour in this heat. I think the shampoo is going to cost three days of my wages! What a concept! Lastly, I told me family I like to cook. They thought it would be fun if I cooked them a dinner! I will let you know how it goes.
E-mail me with any questions you have. It is hard to spend a long period of time on the internet. I will do my best to respond to everyone who has already e-mailed me. Thanks for all of the encouraging responses. I really appreciate it.
¡Qué pases bien el día! (Enjoy your day)
Happy Fourth of July!
I had a great 4th of July. At 7:10 my host mom woke me up and we walked to school with the other “gringos.” ‘Los gringos’ is basically a word for white people. It can be a loaded word but here they use it as a term of affection.
I had a few hours of class: medical, cultural, etc. Then a few people had to get vaccinations. All of the volunteers had to stay until this was finished. The women here work very hard, especially during lunch. Our PC training director does not want us to be around the house during lunch because is it very stressful for them. Basically, that means we get to hang out with each other for a few hours. My friend John and I went looking for mangoes. There are various types of fruit trees around the training center. We found a few ripe mangoes, but finding them is the easy part. You have to take a green mango and throw it into the tree, aiming for the ripe mango. John was pretty good at this so we were able to eat 5 mangoes. Of course, once everyone finds out that you have mango they come looking for you!
My host mom’s mom came to pick all of the ‘gringos’ up from school. I live in an area called Los Cocos. Everyone is related and they all host volunteers. This makes it really fun for us volunteers. We enjoy trying to figure out the family ties because this is a very different culture than our own. At first a few of the volunteers thought my host dad was my host mom’s son! We thought an older gentleman was my host dad’s dad; however, another man sleeps in the house with my host dad’s mom. I hope that made sense. If you are confused—you know how we feel!
On Friday, my host mom talked about a “baby shower.” Yes, they actually call a baby shower a “baby shower” in Spanish. I thought it would be a small family gathering at one of the apartments in the area. I was wrong. A baby shower is a great reason to throw a huge party. After my classes, I went with my host mom to help set up the baby shower. We walked over to a bar… “hmm, this can’t be right.” Well, we did not walk to the wrong place! We started setting up a bunch of really cute decorations. There were a ton of balloons and Styrofoam baby decorations. After we helped set up for a few hours, we went home to get ready. I did not bring any clothes for a party! I do not have running water, a hair dryer, makeup, cute shoes, etc. Somehow all of the Dominicans still manage to look amazing, while I look like a sweaty mess!
Around 9pm, we drove to the party in a pick-up truck filled with people. All of Los Cocos was going to this party. We arrived and the party was full! There were a few dance floors, tables in the street, and decorations around the bar. We saw a few other volunteers sitting with their host families. Then there was beer, food, and a lot of dancing. In the middle of the party, the “baby shower” games began. The first involved two blindfolded people who had to feed each other baby food. It was hysterical watching the baby food go everywhere else besides into their mouths. Next, three men sat on chairs and had to pretend that they were feeding the “babies” on their laps with a bottle. I was one of the “babies.” Of course I do not remember drinking out of a bottle, but it is much harder than I thought. The Dominican women drank it much faster than I did.
Then, everyone started to dance. It was awesome. People of all ages were dancing. The little girls dance better than most women in the United States. There is so much music here I think they are dancing from day one. All of them have rhythm—I am so jealous.
We got home around 1 AM. All of the kids were still awake and wired. From what I can see, the children here are tougher. If they fall, the parents do not come running and the child does not cry. I love my host brother and sister. They always want to color or watch movies. I am learning to play baseball with sticks. My domino skills are also evolving. Once I learn to understand the older gentleman who is trying to teach me, I will probably be a lot better.
I finally slept well last night. The water and electricity are unreliable here. The water comes on at night usually. The electricity is more sporadic. We usually have electricity when it is dark outside, but during the day it is never consistent. My host mom made me a mango smoothie this morning (7/5/2009). We had to wait until around noon until the electricity finally came back. They are used to it so many of them have generators in their houses. My host family has one for the fridge but the other two broke. They are very expensive to fix so my family has learned to live without electricity. Most of the community spends time outside which makes electricity of minimal importance.
Anyways, I think that is all for now. I love you and I hope everything is going well in the states. I am going to the grocery store for the first time tomorrow. It is supposed to be similar to the supermarkets in the States. I need to buy a bag big enough to fit my laptop. The small backpack I brought is perfect for going to class with my books, but it is too small for my laptop. I wish I would have thought about that! I also need shampoo. My hair is very greasy here because I take bucket showers. My host mom offered me her two-in-one shampoo and conditioner, but my hair is greasy after an hour in this heat. I think the shampoo is going to cost three days of my wages! What a concept! Lastly, I told me family I like to cook. They thought it would be fun if I cooked them a dinner! I will let you know how it goes.
E-mail me with any questions you have. It is hard to spend a long period of time on the internet. I will do my best to respond to everyone who has already e-mailed me. Thanks for all of the encouraging responses. I really appreciate it.
¡Qué pases bien el día! (Enjoy your day)
Greetings from the DR
Written on 7.3.09
Hi again!
I am writing my first blog entry as a real PCT. Today was my first full day of training. It has definitely been a day of “firsts.”
1) I learned that “soccer is the national religion and gossip is the national sport.”
2) I sat through a full “day” of school—in Spanish (9-5pm)
3) Took my first bucket shower which was not very successful
4) Ate “yucca” which tasted like a sweet version of a hard potato (It was good!)
5) Learned to strategize and play dominoes with other volunteers living in my area and an old “wise” man in town
6) Played baseball with a stick, a baseball, and bases made of garbage
7) Learned that Dominicans are some of the nicest people but they talk SO fast
8) Ate a homemade potato popsicle (which could bite me in the ass tomorrow) because my cute host brother bought me one and who can turn down a nine year-old with puppy eyes!
9) Sweat more than I have in my entire life
10) Had to ask how to flush the toilet (throwing a bucket of water down the toilet)
11) Learned that showering is not satisfying because you begin sweating the second you step out of the shower
Anyways, I hope you get a better idea of how my life is here. If you thought any of those previous 11 “firsts” were pessimistic, they were actually the exact opposite. I love my life here. For the first time in forever, I actually spent time outside for a reason besides umpiring or walking to and from my car. The entire community played dominoes and marbles, drank juice, talked, and enjoyed their time. At dark, my host mom began cooking dinner. I showered, ate, and went to bed. I know I will continue enjoying my life here. Actually, I am scared that my life will never seem as good in Honduras as it does here. We are living in an impoverished paradise with some of the greatest people—it doesn’t get any better.
I love everyone.
Hi again!
I am writing my first blog entry as a real PCT. Today was my first full day of training. It has definitely been a day of “firsts.”
1) I learned that “soccer is the national religion and gossip is the national sport.”
2) I sat through a full “day” of school—in Spanish (9-5pm)
3) Took my first bucket shower which was not very successful
4) Ate “yucca” which tasted like a sweet version of a hard potato (It was good!)
5) Learned to strategize and play dominoes with other volunteers living in my area and an old “wise” man in town
6) Played baseball with a stick, a baseball, and bases made of garbage
7) Learned that Dominicans are some of the nicest people but they talk SO fast
8) Ate a homemade potato popsicle (which could bite me in the ass tomorrow) because my cute host brother bought me one and who can turn down a nine year-old with puppy eyes!
9) Sweat more than I have in my entire life
10) Had to ask how to flush the toilet (throwing a bucket of water down the toilet)
11) Learned that showering is not satisfying because you begin sweating the second you step out of the shower
Anyways, I hope you get a better idea of how my life is here. If you thought any of those previous 11 “firsts” were pessimistic, they were actually the exact opposite. I love my life here. For the first time in forever, I actually spent time outside for a reason besides umpiring or walking to and from my car. The entire community played dominoes and marbles, drank juice, talked, and enjoyed their time. At dark, my host mom began cooking dinner. I showered, ate, and went to bed. I know I will continue enjoying my life here. Actually, I am scared that my life will never seem as good in Honduras as it does here. We are living in an impoverished paradise with some of the greatest people—it doesn’t get any better.
I love everyone.
Very First Thoughts from Miami
Written on 7.2.09
Hey everyone,
I am still doing great! Loving my life without air conditioning…not! We left for the Miami airport this morning at 7 AM for an 11 AM flight. The Peace Corps assumes four hours ahead of the flight is enough time to get everyone organized. We flew from Miami to San Juan, Puerto Rico. From San Juan, we hopped onto a “Cody, Wyoming” style, propeller plane. I would rather swim between the two islands—it cannot be that far! However, the flight was not as bad as I expected.
We arrived in the DR at around 5 PM. The country directors for the DR were waiting for us as well as a current PCV. They escorted us through customs, visas, etc. before leaving the airport. At this point in the day, I am ready to take a nap. But, we board this bus with a Caribbean bus driver who proceeds to blast amazing Caribbean music over the speakers. I felt like I died and went to Caribbean heaven.
By the way, if you are not already jealous, we will learn to dance typical Dominican dances during our training. This is due to cultural immersion and is NECESSARY! I have no dancing ability, but learning to dance some sexy Latin dances sounds like fun!
The Staging staff (Miami PC staff) informed us that we would be moving in with host families upon arrival in the city. Due to the four different arrival times, we did not move in with host families. I am currently staying at a Christian Retreat house. It has dorm-style rooms with private showers and a fan. Now, it is not only hot but it is humid. Without air conditioning, I have been sweating constantly all evening. I would not care much, but meeting a group of 50 people while sweating like a pig is not very appealing.
We had a small training session after we arrived. They gave us some great basic survival strategies for the first few days. I was told about the typical “welcoming” acts that host families enjoy giving new volunteers. Manicures seem harmless—NOT! If the tools are dirty, you have the potential of contracting HIV/AIDS. Needless to say, I will not be bonding with my family over manicures. The training director also warned us about drinking the water and eating street food. We will receive a detailed safety session on Saturday. The Peace Corps also decided to fly the Honduran trainers into the DR in order to keep our training consistent with Honduras. While learning about Dominican culture, we will be learning how to live in Honduras.
For those of you who are still worried, I want to let you know that the Peace Corps is being very caring and generous to us. As a PCT (PC trainee), we do not worry about any of the logistics of the trip. Usually the logistics are already planned but due to the current events in Honduras, they changed our entire program. The PC has been working around the clock to find us host families, flights from Miami to DR, transportation from the airport, volunteers to meet us at the airport, cooks to feed us our meals, immediate lodging for the first night, etc. You can imagine how hard this would be since the staff only consists of 4 full-time employees and 5 seasonal workers.
Hey everyone,
I am still doing great! Loving my life without air conditioning…not! We left for the Miami airport this morning at 7 AM for an 11 AM flight. The Peace Corps assumes four hours ahead of the flight is enough time to get everyone organized. We flew from Miami to San Juan, Puerto Rico. From San Juan, we hopped onto a “Cody, Wyoming” style, propeller plane. I would rather swim between the two islands—it cannot be that far! However, the flight was not as bad as I expected.
We arrived in the DR at around 5 PM. The country directors for the DR were waiting for us as well as a current PCV. They escorted us through customs, visas, etc. before leaving the airport. At this point in the day, I am ready to take a nap. But, we board this bus with a Caribbean bus driver who proceeds to blast amazing Caribbean music over the speakers. I felt like I died and went to Caribbean heaven.
By the way, if you are not already jealous, we will learn to dance typical Dominican dances during our training. This is due to cultural immersion and is NECESSARY! I have no dancing ability, but learning to dance some sexy Latin dances sounds like fun!
The Staging staff (Miami PC staff) informed us that we would be moving in with host families upon arrival in the city. Due to the four different arrival times, we did not move in with host families. I am currently staying at a Christian Retreat house. It has dorm-style rooms with private showers and a fan. Now, it is not only hot but it is humid. Without air conditioning, I have been sweating constantly all evening. I would not care much, but meeting a group of 50 people while sweating like a pig is not very appealing.
We had a small training session after we arrived. They gave us some great basic survival strategies for the first few days. I was told about the typical “welcoming” acts that host families enjoy giving new volunteers. Manicures seem harmless—NOT! If the tools are dirty, you have the potential of contracting HIV/AIDS. Needless to say, I will not be bonding with my family over manicures. The training director also warned us about drinking the water and eating street food. We will receive a detailed safety session on Saturday. The Peace Corps also decided to fly the Honduran trainers into the DR in order to keep our training consistent with Honduras. While learning about Dominican culture, we will be learning how to live in Honduras.
For those of you who are still worried, I want to let you know that the Peace Corps is being very caring and generous to us. As a PCT (PC trainee), we do not worry about any of the logistics of the trip. Usually the logistics are already planned but due to the current events in Honduras, they changed our entire program. The PC has been working around the clock to find us host families, flights from Miami to DR, transportation from the airport, volunteers to meet us at the airport, cooks to feed us our meals, immediate lodging for the first night, etc. You can imagine how hard this would be since the staff only consists of 4 full-time employees and 5 seasonal workers.
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