Take a holiday in Spain (or Honduras)

First of all, I have a new address. It's on the sidebar. Send me mail. It doesn't have to be a package (but I sure do like those), just write me a letter or send a card. It would make me feel a little closer to reality. Tell me about new movies, music, relationships. I appreciate these things. Even though I have internet, it is painfully slow and the bandwidth isn't strong enough to upload or download, leaving me clueless about anything that's not on facebook. If I don't answer you on fb chat, means my bandwidth is dead. Letters are the way to go. [See side bar]

Time is a funny thing here. I’m sure you’ve always heard that Latinos never arrive anywhere on time. Well, Hondurans are no exception to the rule, in fact, they take that rule to heart in a way that is already driving me crazy. Be sure to ask if you’re meeting at the real time or Honduran time. We practice soccer at 4. Most people show up at about 4:40 and everyone is there by 5. Meetings are guaranteed to start at least 30 minutes later than they are scheduled for. Time also moves slow here. Sometimes my days seem so long that I think it’s never going to be time to get in the bed. How early is too early to excuse yourself to go to your room?

I remember when I studied abroad I hit this point where it had been the longest amount of time I had ever been away from home and out of the States. That came at about 3 weeks then. At that time, I experienced culture shock and an extreme desire to go home. This week I think I experienced that point. I have been gone from home for about 4 months now, the longest I have ever been out of the US. I wanted to be normal so badly this week. I wanted to eat meat that wouldn’t be rejected by the USDA, I wanted to be able to drive, go eat sushi, cook with wonderful spices and flavors, and have a good glass a wine (or just a glass period). I haven’t felt like I wanted to come home, but just that more of home was here. Hint, hint, mom, come visit me already.

I have been sick for over a week now. It started as a cold, but now I think that I have bronchitis. Our PCMO’s (Peace Corps Medical Officers) have been super busy this week, so they never called me back. I think I need antibiotics. The nearest pharmacy is like an hour or so away. Again, normalcy.... where are you?

My information I got about my site told me there were 800 people here. I think 200 is more of an accurate number. The other day I went by the mayor’s house to have coffee and platicar (to chat). After a good political discussion among other things, he introduced me to his oldest daughter who is also named Jessica. I continued talking with her and she was really floored at my desire to live here in this little pueblo for 2 years. “You really do like it here? Isn’t it hard and very different for you?” she asked me. She is one of very few of the people here who have had the opportunity to move to the city to go to the University. I hadn’t really been thinking about it much, but it is so different from the world from which I come. I don’t even know how to describe to you what it feels like to be this tall, white, blue-eyed, educated woman in this pueblo. Sometimes I feel so out of place, I don’t know what to do with myself. I’m a minority, and by quite the long shot. I’m sure that more than the mayor’s daughter wonders what in the world I am doing here. I too sometimes wonder what I’m doing, what I will do in these two years.

I do love my host family here. I am thankful that I can go back home to them, share with them, and joke around and feel a little normal. They treat me really well and are already considering me to be part of their family.

There is only one mirror in our house. (Not normal for a daughter of a hair dresser. There have always been mirrors everywhere in my life.) A few days ago, I straightened my hair (without a mirror) and got ready to go to the kindergarten. I went to look in the one mirror in the house, and I barely recognized myself. My hair has grown several inches (I hadn’t noticed because I usually wear it in a pony tail), is a very light reddish color, and I have pretty much stopped wearing makeup. It’s a strange feeling to look in the mirror after not seeing yourself for a while. I feel like I have changed...and not only physically. I think my personality is different in Spanish. Is that possible? I live my life here in my second language... Language barriers, somewhat limited vocabulary, and a place where sarcasm is rarely understood.

I’m definitely still messy in Spanish. My room is a wreck and I’m procrastinating washing the pile of laundry I have by hand. The sun’s out today, I should get to that.

In other news, the US tied against Costa Rica last night with about 12 seconds left in the game. What does that mean? Well, it means that CR gets bumped to 4th place, and moves Honduras to 3rd place, qualifying them for the World Cup next year in South Africa. Oh and the US won 1st place. Everyone went ballistic here when US scored the goal. I think more people here were watching that game instead of the Honduras-El Salvador game. There are 3 cars in my community. We all piled up in the back of the 3 cars and went around honking the horn, whistling, and screaming HONDURAS HONDURAS! This is the first time in 28 years that Honduras has gone to the World Cup and only the 2nd time ever. Soccer is life here in case you didn’t know that. So it’s a big deal. A huge deal. Today was declared a national holiday. No school. No work.

No wonder they can’t escape this cycle of poverty. Always taking holidays.... Guess I’ll just read another book today.

If anyone should not celebrate Columbus Day, it would be the people of Latin America.

That's all.

Okay, Obama, you just won the Nobel Peace Prize. Can you please do something about this whole Honduras situation? We’d all like some paz (peace) around here.

The de facto Honduran government announced last night that schools will be getting out on October 31 because of elections. The students here have lost months of school because of this situation and now they’re ending school early. Not only that, they also announced that no student would be held back this year. Every single student will be passed, regardless of what their grades are. This is so sad for the kids here. They will start out next year behind and probably will be left to fend for themselves.

Other than that news, things are going really well here. My new site is beautiful. It’s cold, but beautiful. Don’t laugh at me. It really is pretty chilly here, especially at night. I am sick and I think it’s because of the weather change. Sometimes in the evening, I go into the room where our fogon (wood burning stove where we cook important things like beans and tortillas on) is to sit by the fire and warm up. I wear sweats and warm socks at night. It’s been pretty nice during the day, but it usually rains and gets cold starting about 3 or 4 pm. I have met lots of people in my community and they have been more open and friendly than I was thinking they would be towards this strange gringa. Literally.

Today the US and Honduras are playing soccer. If Honduras looses, they're out. So it kinda sucks to be in the position to not know who to cheer for. I am just hoping for an impate (a tie). The game is at 7 central time if you're interested in watching.

I have joined a women's soccer team here. We have our first game tomorrow. I am really excited about it. All the girls are about my age, maybe a little younger. We have a few good players, but I just hope we don't get killed tomorrow. We'll see. I think that these girls are going to become some of my really good friends.

I am also working with a youth group from the Catholic church here. I have hung out with them twice and they want to learn to play guitar and sing new songs, so I'm of course very excited about that. I'll do whatever they want in terms of music. I do wish I had my guitar here though. Maybe I'll try and find one here. I sat through a service with them as they prayed the rosary. I think that I almost know the whole Lord's Prayer in Spanish now.... the rosary.... well, it's kinda different. I don't know what to think. I guess I will learn and participate to be respectful of their religion here. It will be a learning experience. Religion is a whole different animal here.

Today I went to the vet in the nearest city to ask about finding a puppy for me. He's gonna find one for me in the next month or so. Who knows what kind it will be. It will be an adventure to train a dog in Spanish. I think that it will keep me occupied and keep me from being so bored when school gets out in a few weeks.

I'm a little sick today. I have a cold. Boo.... but I am in the big city right now and I am sitting on a sofa in a real coffee shop. It's nice to feel normal for a few hours and have a cappuccino, a diet coke, and a pack of Skittles for the road. It's funny how you learn to appreciate the little things.

two years starts today.

On March 6, I received my invitation to serve in Peace Corps Honduras. Since that day, I have been waiting for and imagining the community where I would work and live, the community that would become my home. After a golpe de estado (or military coup), an unexpected trip to the Dominican Republic, a week in Miami, President Mel sneaking back in the country, toque de quedas, and 4 family home stays, I have reached my final resting place here in Honduras.

This last week has been a crazy, but fun one. We had lots of goodbye parties, we met our counterparts, and were sworn in at the US Embassy as official Peace Corps Volunteers. It has been quite emotional as well. If Peace Corps has its downfalls (and sometimes it does), one is this: you spend your first 3 months of your PC career getting close and getting to know the other trainees in your class (ours is H15). You spend just about every waking moment with these people, and because we are all in this strange, new country and culture together, we formed bonds quickly. Then in an instant, you say goodbye, give hugs and walk away to be alone in your new site. It's like they just play with your emotions... here are your friends. Love them. Get to know them. Soon they'll be 10 hours away from you and you'll see them twice a year. I don't know if there is another way to emulate actual service, but it is still a terrible thing to go through. The goodbyes suck. (Sorry Nannie, if you don't like that word.)

Back to my original thought....So more than 6 months in the making I have imagined this new community..... I don't remember exactly what my original mental picture of this place was, but I am here now and it's more than just a thought. This is my new reality. I honestly didn't think that I was going to be in a community this small, but yet, this is what one might think of when they think Peace Corps. It was about a 4 hour bus ride from the capital to my nearest big city, which isn't that bad. Then from there, I had lunch at my counterpart's house (she lives in that big city), went by the post office to get a PO Box, then threw all my maletas (luggage) in the back of a pick-up to head up the mountain to my site. This is where the pavement ends.

Remember Rockford? Pretty much the same thing. Miles and miles on red, dirt roads, only this time into the mountains. There is coffee everywhere here. Beautiful green leaves with yummy coffee that will be ready to cut in a few months. After about an hour and a half on these dirt roads, we topped a hill and my counterpart pointed out my new community on the hill. We arrived and I met my new family where I will stay for the next two months while I learn about and meet the community and look for a house to rent. They're a pretty young couple with kids that are 5 and 4 months, both boys. The dad is running for mayor right now and his brother-in-law is the mayor. My family makes up almost half of the town. The house is relatively large and it's nice. The best thing is the view out my window. I am on top of a mountain and can see everything below. There are also mountains in the distance, one of which is actually a volcano over in El Salvador. Yes, I am that close to the border. It's beautiful. I had to just sit out on the grass and take it all in. Oh did I mention it's cold here? Yes, that's right. Cold. 6,000 meters high cold and it's not even the coldest part of the year yet. I will be spending my time here wearing hats and jackets and sleeping in my 20 degree sleeping bag. (One of the best decisions I ever made was buying that thing.)

My community had a welcome party for me minutes after I arrived. I was exhausted, but I smiled and drank coffee and watched the kindergarten children do danzas folkloricos. It was precious, and I was quite overwhelmed. I also had to give a speech. Yuck. I haven't been speaking much Spanish lately. Time for a change. All Spanish now.

I am extremely tall here. The people here are an indigenous group called Lenca. They're tiny. Doorways are mostly too short for me and I'm only 5'7'' on a good day. Most of them are about 4'10''-5'2'', maybe even smaller. I could get used to this. I am realizing right now how developed Talanga and Valle were. This place is worlds apart from Tegucigalpa. My coffee this morning had cow's milk in it. Straight from the vaca. And the tortillas here are made straight from the corn they grow. Pick it, shuck it, take out the kernels, grind it, and it's a tortilla. Some of these people have never seen a computer and cable i a big deal. The baby calves are asleep out on the front porch. Out of all my travels throughout Central and South America, this is by far the most rural and undeveloped place I've ever been, but it is beautiful. It is however, going to take a minute to adjust yet again. Little by little.

I can't wait for some of you to come and visit me and see this. Describing it to you on here doesn't do it justice. Just get your passports and come see me. You've got two years starting now.


If you want to see some pictures from swearing in and such:
here they are.




Just a side note.... It's been 6 years today. Six years since Cody passed away. Unbelievable. Even though I am so far away from all of you, know that my thoughts are with you and that I am too thinking of Cody bear.

All dogs go to heaven

Or at least I hope so.

My dog Maya got run over last week and was killed.

She was my baby and I am terribly devastated. People here in Honduras don't understand how it feels to loose an animal like this. They treat their dogs like trash and they don't comprehend why I am upset.

This is going to be a tough week. Good thing it's the last one. Or maybe bad thing.... Starting Saturday, I will be alone in my site.

I know that many of you are busy and have your own lives and lots of things going on, but the next couple of months are going to be tough. I need your love and support. Please find time to email me or write me a letter. It would really mean a lot to me. It's tough to be here sometimes and sometimes even if it's just a quick hello or a message on facebook, it really means a lot. Thanks to those of you who have done so. I really appreciate you.

I eat lots of tortillas.

There are certain things that I live on a daily basis and I forget to take note of their rarity or to share them with anyone. I realized the other day that I talk to my mom (my real one) every single day, but I just haven’t really said much or told her about things here. Life in a developing country is quite different from life in the U.S., if you can imagine that.

My mom mentioned that I haven’t complained to her about anything. As most of you know, this is contrary to that which is me. Somehow these lack of amenities and the presences of creepy crawly bugs and electroduchas are somewhat comforting. Life is just easier. But for you to get a feel of some things, I am not going to complain about anything, just describe for you. Take it for what it’s worth.

I get up every morning to the chickens crowing and dogs barking. I could sleep with my window closed, but it gets to stuffy and hot in my room (which by the way is decorated with Hannah Montana and Strawberry Shortcake, complete with S.S. sheets. Thanks, Lizabeth [my little sis]), so I elect to sleep with the window open and endure the sounds of the morning. After I force myself out of bed, I go to the bathroom. If you don’t know, you cannot flush toilet paper in the toilet here. You have to put it in the trash can. If the dogs and chickens don’t wake me up, the smell of the bathroom shared by 11 people does. There’s also a small apparatus missing from the tubos negros (sewage pipes) here as well. In the U.S. there is sort of a trap door on drains that eliminates smells and other things from returning. This said apparatus doesn’t exist here. After that, comes the water issue.

Water only comes here 2, sometimes 3 days a week. When it comes and there is running water, we are free to flush the toilet normally. Also, we then fill up the pila (pronounced: pee-luh, meaning the big thing that holds water) and that is the water we use for the next several days: brushing teeth, washing hands, clothes, and then there’s the toilet. When there’s not running water, well, toilets don’t flush because the tank can’t fill. Toilets work with gravity. If you throw a bucket-full of water into the toilet bowl, it will flush without using the little handle to do it. So on days without water, I exit the bathroom, fill up the pila (pronounced: pie-luh, large plastic bowl used for lots of things like flushing toilets and washing clothes and brushing teeth), and pour that water into the toilet bowl to flush it. As you can imagine, this isn’t a very sanitary practice. You have to be careful to pour the water fast enough to flush the toilet, but slow enough that you don’t get splattered.

I can be slightly a germ freak at times, and I have to say that bathrooms are a source of pain for me. I carefully get in and out of the shower, touching as little amount of the floor as possible, avoiding any splatter from the previously mentioned process. Ants and cockroaches also like that big trash can filled with used toilet paper. The other day I went to pick up the toilet paper and there were about 10 giant, black, carpenter ants that exited the roll of toilet paper and ran down my arm and I had a slight freak out. I do though, have hot water and I do enjoy that experience about our bathroom. However, there are little tricks to it. The first trick is to avoid getting shocked.

Hot water heaters don’t exist here either. Instead there’s the invention called the electroducha (electric shower). Basically, it is a shower head that is attached to an electric current. When the water is turned on, there is a little thermometer inside the electroducha that tells the electricity to turn on and heat the water. Sometimes that little thermometer doesn’t like to sense the water. “The water isn’t getting hot,” I yell to my little brother. “Pégale duro!” (Hit it hard!) my brother says in response. So after hitting the shower head a few times, carefully avoiding the little streams of water coming down from the exposed electrical cords and only being successful at this half of the time, I eventually get hot water and a gentle shock from the water that flows from the electrical wire. It’s all worth it to have water hot enough to steam up the bathroom mirror. I am one of few who has this privilege.

My family that I will return to on Tuesday doesn’t have this wonderful device called the electroducha. The weather there is a good 15-20 degrees cooler, but no hot water. So after telling my family here about this dreaded situation, they took me to their Ferraterría (like an Ace Hardware store, which my family owns) to resolve matters. The brought me this little device that is basically a piece of PVC pipe with holes drilled into it with a hairdryer coil inside it and a plug coming out of it. Sounds safe, huh? I paid about $6 for it and took it home. They call this thing a Calentadora de Agua (a hot water heater). The directions tell me to:

1. Submerge in water.

2. Connect the 110 volts 300 watts.

3. Disconnect before taking out of water.

4. The time needed to warm the water is proportional to the amount of water.

I forgot to mention that this is water that I will get from the pila (the one pronounced: pee-luh) and put into a quinto (5 gallon bucket). Then I will use the pila (the one pronounced: pie-luh) to pour the carefully heated water over myself to shower. Anything warmer than the ice water from the mountains is better than nothing.

It is now 6:45 a.m. and I have already done all of this. Let the day begin and bring on the tortillas!

Pigs are weird

Well, after what feels like months of waiting, I finally think that I know where I am going to be for the next two years. Yesterday I had my final site placement interview, and they told me about all the work I will be doing and about my site.

My site:

-1700 meters (5,600 ft), so MOUNTAINS!!

-Lenca (indigenous group of people)

-cold weather

-pine trees

-coffee area

-can grow lettuce!! and there are lots of tomatoes

-have electricity

-INTERNET

-walk a lot, which maybe I can get a horse

-small town

-one restaurant

-2 hours away from the closest city

-about 45 minutes away from the closest volunteer

Host fam:

-mom

-2 brothers (one is a teacher, other is in high school)

-pretty nice house b/c 2 other kids live in US and send money

Work:

-Reiken Library (youth groups, mobile library, community activities)

-Kindergarten (teaching dental hygiene)

-Primary school (1-6 grades; start a basketball team, dental hygiene, Spanish, Math)

-High School (HIV/AIDS education and more)

-Superintendent figure (Teaching English to teachers TEAM, teaching Math and Spanish methodologies, HIV/AIDS, Sex Education training)

-Youth Group from the Catholic Church (activities, soccer team)

-Women's Cooperative (they bake bread and sell it, but want to learn to cook other things and business skills)

It's kinda ridiculous how many counterparts that I have (those I listed are considered my counterparts). Normally, we have 2-4. I have 7. At least I won't be bored. I will have work for days, but I am excited. I am excited about being in a cold site too. Cold is relative here, but without a heater, I'm sure the nights will be chilly. Good thing I ended up getting that 30 degree sleeping bag. Mom also sent me a package with another coat and a sweatshirt.

Training is finally coming to a close, and I am very excited to be finished, but I am going to miss my family here terribly. I have really gotten extremely close to them and they have spoiled me lots. I am also sad to be leaving the kids at the orphanage. I'm sure that I will come back to visit quite a bit here. I am thinking about spending Christmas here with this family. My site is about 6-7 hours away from here by bus, which is rough. I am also not allowed to leave my site until late December. Ouch. These first few months of service are going to be crazy.

Today was Children's Day here in Honduras, so we had lots of celebrations. Next week is Independence Day (Sept 15), and so the bands are practicing constantly, and there are lots of excuses for parties. The drumming is becoming ridiculous. I think that my next door neighbor is a drummer or something, because it's like the drums are always beating.

Also, in case you didn't know, fútbol is king here, and I am not talking about the American kind. Honduras is actually really good too. Right now is the selection process for the World Cup if you live in a hole. The U.S. is in 1st place, closely followed by México (grrr), then Honduras! Honduras sadly lost to México last night and it was tough. The U.S. and Honduras play on October 12, which will determine who will go to South Africa for the World Cup next year.

Just some random thoughts I've had over the past few days:

Blessings. To be blessed or to bless others?

For the first time in my life, I don't like dogs, but only because the ones here never cease the barking and are never trained.

This little man has been hoeing that grass all day. Literally all day.

I'm tired of dust.

It's a very, very small world.

How do those lichens survive on the power lines?

I'm officially a Honduras resident and it says so in my passport!

Pigs are weird.