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.