The Youn People

Written May 18^th.

Today I finally met with Carlos, the Health Promoter. We met at the Centro de Salud at 8 a.m. to make our way to the water park the kids have been using for their meetings. However, Carlos rides a motorcycle - it is more like a dirt bike - and riding motos is prohibited by Peace Corps. Volunteers are not allowed to drive or be a passenger on a motorcycle. If you do, and the Peace Corps finds out, supposedly you will be shipped back to the States. So, I had to explain this to Carlos, the doctor and the other ladies in the office when they said that Carlos was going to give me a ride. They understood that it was prohibited, but not the extant that they needed to. After explaining it to them, Carlos and I went outside and he fully expected me to get on and ride with him. This is when I pulled out the information about being sent back to the States if I ride a motorcycle - he understood. I told him I had not problem walking and that Sonia told me about where it was. So, he took off on his bike, and I started walking. Once he arrived, he would start walking back toward me, so he could show me just where it was. I quickly realized that was unnecessary because there was a big sign with an arrow on the main road pointing directly to where I needed to go, but it is still nice to have someone to walk with.

When we arrived, there was obviously a lot more introductions. Introductions always make me nervous because people don’t know yet that my Spanish is not that great. So, after I’m introduced they just start jabbering on and I can usually only pick out a few things that they have said. I usually do alright at this point by focusing on that question they asked or that one statement that they made that I do understand, but there are of course those times when I just have absolutely no idea what they said to me. Those are the times that make me feel like an idiot, and I have to then tell the person that my Spanish is not very good and that I didn’t understand what they just asked me. And, of course when I say that the person has no problem slowing down and saying/asking again, but by that time, I have already been embarrassed and feel like an idiot, so there is no going back. But, like I said, the people are always really nice about it. During a break the kids got during their meeting today, I was talking to one of the guys in charge, and then he said something I didn’t understand and I had to ask him to say it again, and I apologized for my horrible Spanish. But, he told me that my Spanish is great! I have heard that from a couple people and always think they are just trying to be nice, but this guy was 100 percent serious. It was definitely a little confidence booster, but I know that I still have a LONG way to go.

So, this event the youth were doing. Today, they were working on what they were going to do the next day at the mayor’s office: who was going to say what and when; who was going to be in charge of different topics, and that sort of thing. But, first, they had an election. They voted for a president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, something called a fisica, and a vocal 1 and vocal 2. The vocals 1 and 2, are like representatives of the people (voices) I think, but I don’t know what the fisica is! This took the better half of the morning. People had to be nominated and then seconded and then each position had to be voted on. It was actually kind of fun to watch. I don’t know what they are going to do with those positions though. That is the part I didn’t have a chance to figure out. The girl who was elected president immediately started being a little bit more active in the days activities - stepping in when people couldn’t agree on things or when the director guy was having trouble organizing the kids to do certain things. I’m guessing they must have had the conversation about what this new set of officials was going to do before I got there - maybe I will ask tomorrow. Before I left, I asked the guy who I think is in charge if it would be OK if I went with them to the mayor’s office tomorrow and he said that would be no problem at all, that if I wanted I could come back that afternoon, too.

I should have gone back this afternoon, but I wanted to go home and make lunch and hide from the heat. Walking back to my house from the water park, I stopped at a stand on the side of the road and bought tomatoes, peppers and red onions. Then I stopped at a pulparia and bought a can of jalapeño halves. Then I stopped at another pulparia and bought a little bag of bleach. When I got to my house, I found a large pot and filled it with water, put 3 tablespoons of bleach in the water, and putt my veggies to soak for 15 minutes. Living in Honduras, if you want to make anything out of raw veggies, you will not be able to do it fast - in order to be sure you won’t get sick, you have to soak them in bleach water for 15 minutes. While my veggies were soaking, I realized I forgot my platano chips. I went to the pulparia across the street, but they didn’t have any. However, one of the ladies hollered across the street for her nephew and sent him to a nearby pulparia on his bike. In under five minutes, I was headed back across the street to my house with my chips! I was setting out to have a delicious lunch with actual veggies! It has pretty much been since I left La Villa that I have eaten veggies - which is WAY too long - a little more than two weeks. So, I was making chismol to eat with plantain chips. Chismol is the Honduran version of pico de gaillo (spelling) - it is salsa. It is just chopped up tomato, green pepper, onion and jalapeño mixed with lime juice and a little bit of salt. It is one of my new favorite things. This was my first time making it by myself, and I think it turned out very well! I had made it a couple other times with other trainees, but I feel like this afternoon, buying everything, and then making it myself, was a kid of landmark for me and my new life!