Written Sept 27
These last three weeks seem to have really screamed by. I was at reconnect, and then I got home, and had to go to Lucerna to do my annual report (twice), so I was out of site quite a bit. I was in site all last week, but it went from Monday to Friday in a heart beat. There was no school on Friday, which meant no class with my 5th and 6th grade boys, so it felt like Satruday! Now, it is Tuesday again, and the Women’s Health Work Shop starts tomorrow! Catie, Taryn and I have been preparing for this for a while now, but the fact that it is actually here already, scares me. I am very nervous. This will be my first time as a facilitator for a work shop, and my first time having to speak in Spanish in front of a lot of people. I have done charlas, but that is to no more than 15 or 20 people at a time. There will be about 50 at this work shop. I have not decided if the fact that half of them are other volunteers is a good thing or a bad thing, yet. Sometimes I feel like other volunteers judge way more than Hondurans. Really, Hondurans don’t judge; they understand that we are still learning and tend to be impressed even when your Spanish is pretty minimal! But, other volunteers judge based on how long you have been in Honduras. I know it is true; I have done it. When you meet someone that has been in Honduras for a while now, you think to yourself whether or not their Spanish is up to par with what you think it should be. So, hopefully I don’t get judged to harshly this week. I know I’m struggling - I guess I could have done more to prepare for this week, but I have been pretty busy actually preparing the material that practicing Spanish tended to get pushed to the back burner.
Besides getting ready for this workshop, it has been the feria in my site, which means a lot has been going on. There have been fiestas every weekend, and coronations for the princess and queen of the feria. Also, there have been horse races and a rodeo. I unfortunately missed the rodeo, but I know I will have another opportunity while here in Honduras. I am very bummed that I will be missing the events this week, though. Friday night is the competition for the “Rey Feo” (Ugly King). From what I’ve heard around my community it is a hilarious event! A bunch of guys dress up as women and get up on stage and tell everyone all the latest gossip. I’m actually a little nervous about the gossip part. I know everyone always gossips about me. According to the town gossip, I have about five boyfriends in my town. Basically any time someone sees me talking to a person of the opposite sex, that person is then thought to be my boyfriend. So, hopefully nothing too terrible is said about me during the competition. That is probably one of the larger reasons I want to be there for that particular event - so I can hear what they say about me, but I know it would also be hilarious to see a bunch of Honduran men dressed up as women. It would be a site to see, especially because Honduran men are so machismo that I would never have expected any of them to be ok with dressing up as women.
On another note…
Something happened to me last week that I didn’t think would ever happen to me during my 2-year Peace Corps experience. I got a call from the Country Director, and it, unfortunately, was not a call congratulating my great work here in Honduras. It was a call because Emily was worried about “my current behavior!” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. The first thing that ran through my mind, was of course “What on Earth could I have done to merit a call from the Country Director?” I was in shock. So, the reason for the call! This blog! Can you believe it? Apparently someone ready by blog about jaloning and felt the need to share it with the Country Director.
Jaloning is not something the Peace Corps looks very highly upon - and I completely understand that. It can be dangerous and who knows what can happen. But, I guess the fact that I was not doing it by myself made me feel safe, and I didn’t even thinking about that fact that Peace Corps would look at it as a security risk. Two of the jalons that we took that trip were in the cabs of trucks and with people from my site, so that is not “bad” in Peace Corps terms, but it was the 1-hour jalon from Comayagua to Siguat that was the cause for alarm. We rode in the back of a truck, it was on a main road, and we did not know the people driving. I can completely understand why this was cause for concern, but in our defense, there were three of us together, so getting raped was not on our minds - we unfortunately forgot that we are in Honduras and these men could easily have been drug lords or people running from drug lords… who knows!
So - a word of caution for the rest of you Peace Corps folks. Don’t take rides from strangers!!!! The reality of where we are - Honduras - needs to be enough to make us be cautions. As Juan Carlos just informed us, Honduras is no longer just the most dangerous Peace Corps country, it is now the most dangerous country in the United States (besides those countries that are in wars).
So, no rides from strangers, friends!!!!
And, as a second caution - think before you post. When writing blogs, always remember that when you least expect it, someone from Peace Corps can read it. So, when writing, try to keep that in mind!
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Sunday, September 18, 2011
The Ebb and Flow
I have been having a rough couple of days here in Honduras. I don’t know what brought it on, or why, but as our lovely country assistant director, Brian calls it - I’m in the ebb of the volunteer ebb and flow - Like the tides. During a Peace Corps service, according to Brian, all volunteers go through this ebb and flow, multiple times. When you are in the flow, you feel like you are completing the goals that you set out and that you are truly helping the country you are living in. But, when you are in the ebb, you feel like nothing you do is working, that you are not doing what you set out to do, and that you being in your country is teetering on pointless.
So, me being in an ebb right now is not a good place to be. I am not in too deep, thankfully, and hopefully this is a high, low tide, but it is happening nonetheless. I have been trying to figure this out, and I think I have come to some kind of conclusion. Living in a country where the customs are just so unbelievably different, it takes a toll on you. I have been here for almost seven months now, and I think it is just starting to all catch up to me.
What exactly am I talking about. I will give you some examples of things that I see pretty much on a daily basis that have been hard to adapt to.
Let me start with something that happened this afternoon. Amanda and I were sitting in a coffee shop, when a little boy came up and asked for money. We have decided giving money to the little kids who beg is not a good idea because more likely than not, they are going to give it to their parents, who will then buy booze. So, when we have food, we will give that to the kids instead. Today, however, we did not have food to give him, so we had to send him on his way. After he made his rounds around the tables in the coffee shop, he walked up to the garbage can, opened it, grabbed an almost empty coffee drink and proceeded to finish it. Amanda and I couldn’t even watch; we turned away the second that used cup with who-knows-what inside hit his lips. It was just too much to watch. A little boy - probably about 11 years old - going through the trash and eating/drinking whatever he could get his hands on. It was enough to make me want to give him some money, but I literally have none to give until my next paycheck hits the bank next week.
This was heart-retching, and the fact that I see it every single day - little kids that don’t have enough to eat, walking around without shoes and without parents to take care of them. Who knows, they probably have parents, but if they are walking around begging, I don’t think their parents are doing such a great job. It is hard seeing this and not being able to do anything. I am only one person, in one little community, volunteering in a foreign country, but how am I helping these little kids - what is going to happen to them?
Last week, in the same location - Amanda and I love to meet in the café by the bus terminal because it has air conditioning and cold frappe drinks - the perfect way to relax on a hot, sunny Honduran afternoon. So, last week when Amanda and I were there, we were watching all the little babies around us because, yes, we are going through a little bit of baby fever. We want to hold every baby we see - in Spanish you say chiniar. We probably say “I want to chiniar that baby” about 20 times a day (our spanglish is getting great). So, as we were baby stalking, we noticed the family in the corner of the café, and they had an adorable little girl. She looked like she was probably about 6 months old. She was sitting on her dad’s lap, holding her head up by herself, and holding her cup by herself, so we were guessing 6-9 months. But, the part that was almost unbearable to see was that the “cup” this little girl was drinking out of was a granita de café, which is the Espresso Americano café’s version of a frappe. A 6-month old drinking a frappe. As U.S. citizens we were pretty horrified by this scene, but as health volunteers in the Peace Corps, we were completely horrified.
Nutrition is one of my passions here in Honduras. On a daily basis - multiple times a day - I witness terrible nutrition habits by Hondurans. I’m not trying to pretend like I have perfect nutrition, but I do know what I should and shouldn’t eat, even if sometimes I chose to ignore it. I see infants and toddles being given candy, chips and coke for snacks instead of something as simple and cheap as a banana. Nobody drinks water - it is all coke and coffee. People eat about 4 corn tortillas with every meal (and in these parts, one tortilla is about the size of 3). People fry tier food in so much grease that I could probably cook for a week after one egg gets fried. But, I don’t say anything when I see these things. These people have had these habits for their whole lives and just simply telling them something is not going to make a difference. I need to set up charlas (talks) and cooking demonstrations to try and make the information really stick. But, when I saw a 6-month old baby drinking a frappe, it was all I could do to not start going off at that family. I had so many things I would have liked to say to them, but I didn’t do anything. What good would it have done? Having a gringa walk up to their table and tell them it is bad to give their little baby coffee and sugar (all that a granita is) would not have accomplished anything. They would probably just say, “oh we gave all our kids these, and look. they are fine.” So, as much as I wanted to do something, I didn’t. Amanda and I just sat there talking about how much we couldn’t believe what they were doing. The inability to make an impact and or alter people’s bad habits gets a little overwhelming after a while.
Ok - one more thing I will take a minute to talk about - Hondurans and relationships. We were told all through training about how Honduran men work. They are all the same, they told us. Anyone who is married, probably has a couple other women on the side, and any man you find that says he is single probably still has a girlfriend or even a wife, and probably a couple kids, too. This is just something we have to accept, and live with. But, I have found it slightly challenging. There are a lot of men in my site, that I know have wives/kids, but they still hit on me, ask me for my number, tell me how they want to be with me, and ask me to take them with me when I go back to the States. It isn’t even just that they are doing it with me. I have a few Honduran guy friends that I know have girlfriends or are married that then ask me for my friends numbers (Hondurans and other volunteers). I just don’t understand how they think that is OK. Part of me wants to tell the wives and girlfriends about their crummy men, but to be honest, I’m sure they already know. It is so hard being such a strong, independent women living in this country. Seeing women be walked on everyday of their lives is so hard. I just want to grab them, shake them, and ask them why the heck they stay with a guy that treats them like dirt - why they tolerate that behavior? But, it is just “part” of the Honduran culture. People know about it, accept it, and chose to ignore it - everyone chooses to live their lives in ignorance that they bring on themselves.
On this same topic, the piropos (cat calls) are starting to hit a little deeper nerve with me these days. I can handle the “hola me amor,” “hola gringa.” “ay, que bonita/linda/guapa/preciosa,” anything men decided to holler at me, doesn’t seem to phase me, but when they do the noise, it makes my blood boil. It is a noise like someone calling a dog over to them - “Tsssss, tssssss!” For some reason, everyone here seems to think that calling a women over like she is a dog, is ok. But, I find it unacceptable. The last few times that a guy has done it to me, I have turned around and done it back to them, but in a very snotty way. They usually just think it is hilarious. Before, I just ignored the piropos, but I get so angry having men call me like a dog, that I am having trouble ignoring it now. I know I need to keep my tempter in check, and ignoring them draws much less attention than piropoing them back, but I just feel like I have to make a stand. There are so many things that I have to ignore and not say anything about while living in Honduras, that being able to do something about these cat calls, makes me feel like I have some sort of control over my life. I know that I don’t really have any control over my life right now, which makes this all so much harder.
Having Peace Corps put more rules and regulations on top of all the other ones that we already had, has probably added to the beginning stages of my current “ebb.” I was looking forward to meeting all my friends for Halloween,, and now being told I CAN’T, has been hard. In the Peace Corps when you are working so hard to “make a difference in the world,” which usually feels like a daunting task, reunions with familiar people are very important - I know that Peace Corps understand that, so the fact that they have implemented these new safety/security precautions just makes me realize the severity of the security situation in Honduras. How long will Peace Corps Honduras be around - will I be able to finish my two years here? Two questions that find their way to the front of my brain, and don’t really help with my current state of mind.
So, me being in an ebb right now is not a good place to be. I am not in too deep, thankfully, and hopefully this is a high, low tide, but it is happening nonetheless. I have been trying to figure this out, and I think I have come to some kind of conclusion. Living in a country where the customs are just so unbelievably different, it takes a toll on you. I have been here for almost seven months now, and I think it is just starting to all catch up to me.
What exactly am I talking about. I will give you some examples of things that I see pretty much on a daily basis that have been hard to adapt to.
Let me start with something that happened this afternoon. Amanda and I were sitting in a coffee shop, when a little boy came up and asked for money. We have decided giving money to the little kids who beg is not a good idea because more likely than not, they are going to give it to their parents, who will then buy booze. So, when we have food, we will give that to the kids instead. Today, however, we did not have food to give him, so we had to send him on his way. After he made his rounds around the tables in the coffee shop, he walked up to the garbage can, opened it, grabbed an almost empty coffee drink and proceeded to finish it. Amanda and I couldn’t even watch; we turned away the second that used cup with who-knows-what inside hit his lips. It was just too much to watch. A little boy - probably about 11 years old - going through the trash and eating/drinking whatever he could get his hands on. It was enough to make me want to give him some money, but I literally have none to give until my next paycheck hits the bank next week.
This was heart-retching, and the fact that I see it every single day - little kids that don’t have enough to eat, walking around without shoes and without parents to take care of them. Who knows, they probably have parents, but if they are walking around begging, I don’t think their parents are doing such a great job. It is hard seeing this and not being able to do anything. I am only one person, in one little community, volunteering in a foreign country, but how am I helping these little kids - what is going to happen to them?
Last week, in the same location - Amanda and I love to meet in the café by the bus terminal because it has air conditioning and cold frappe drinks - the perfect way to relax on a hot, sunny Honduran afternoon. So, last week when Amanda and I were there, we were watching all the little babies around us because, yes, we are going through a little bit of baby fever. We want to hold every baby we see - in Spanish you say chiniar. We probably say “I want to chiniar that baby” about 20 times a day (our spanglish is getting great). So, as we were baby stalking, we noticed the family in the corner of the café, and they had an adorable little girl. She looked like she was probably about 6 months old. She was sitting on her dad’s lap, holding her head up by herself, and holding her cup by herself, so we were guessing 6-9 months. But, the part that was almost unbearable to see was that the “cup” this little girl was drinking out of was a granita de café, which is the Espresso Americano café’s version of a frappe. A 6-month old drinking a frappe. As U.S. citizens we were pretty horrified by this scene, but as health volunteers in the Peace Corps, we were completely horrified.
Nutrition is one of my passions here in Honduras. On a daily basis - multiple times a day - I witness terrible nutrition habits by Hondurans. I’m not trying to pretend like I have perfect nutrition, but I do know what I should and shouldn’t eat, even if sometimes I chose to ignore it. I see infants and toddles being given candy, chips and coke for snacks instead of something as simple and cheap as a banana. Nobody drinks water - it is all coke and coffee. People eat about 4 corn tortillas with every meal (and in these parts, one tortilla is about the size of 3). People fry tier food in so much grease that I could probably cook for a week after one egg gets fried. But, I don’t say anything when I see these things. These people have had these habits for their whole lives and just simply telling them something is not going to make a difference. I need to set up charlas (talks) and cooking demonstrations to try and make the information really stick. But, when I saw a 6-month old baby drinking a frappe, it was all I could do to not start going off at that family. I had so many things I would have liked to say to them, but I didn’t do anything. What good would it have done? Having a gringa walk up to their table and tell them it is bad to give their little baby coffee and sugar (all that a granita is) would not have accomplished anything. They would probably just say, “oh we gave all our kids these, and look. they are fine.” So, as much as I wanted to do something, I didn’t. Amanda and I just sat there talking about how much we couldn’t believe what they were doing. The inability to make an impact and or alter people’s bad habits gets a little overwhelming after a while.
Ok - one more thing I will take a minute to talk about - Hondurans and relationships. We were told all through training about how Honduran men work. They are all the same, they told us. Anyone who is married, probably has a couple other women on the side, and any man you find that says he is single probably still has a girlfriend or even a wife, and probably a couple kids, too. This is just something we have to accept, and live with. But, I have found it slightly challenging. There are a lot of men in my site, that I know have wives/kids, but they still hit on me, ask me for my number, tell me how they want to be with me, and ask me to take them with me when I go back to the States. It isn’t even just that they are doing it with me. I have a few Honduran guy friends that I know have girlfriends or are married that then ask me for my friends numbers (Hondurans and other volunteers). I just don’t understand how they think that is OK. Part of me wants to tell the wives and girlfriends about their crummy men, but to be honest, I’m sure they already know. It is so hard being such a strong, independent women living in this country. Seeing women be walked on everyday of their lives is so hard. I just want to grab them, shake them, and ask them why the heck they stay with a guy that treats them like dirt - why they tolerate that behavior? But, it is just “part” of the Honduran culture. People know about it, accept it, and chose to ignore it - everyone chooses to live their lives in ignorance that they bring on themselves.
On this same topic, the piropos (cat calls) are starting to hit a little deeper nerve with me these days. I can handle the “hola me amor,” “hola gringa.” “ay, que bonita/linda/guapa/preciosa,” anything men decided to holler at me, doesn’t seem to phase me, but when they do the noise, it makes my blood boil. It is a noise like someone calling a dog over to them - “Tsssss, tssssss!” For some reason, everyone here seems to think that calling a women over like she is a dog, is ok. But, I find it unacceptable. The last few times that a guy has done it to me, I have turned around and done it back to them, but in a very snotty way. They usually just think it is hilarious. Before, I just ignored the piropos, but I get so angry having men call me like a dog, that I am having trouble ignoring it now. I know I need to keep my tempter in check, and ignoring them draws much less attention than piropoing them back, but I just feel like I have to make a stand. There are so many things that I have to ignore and not say anything about while living in Honduras, that being able to do something about these cat calls, makes me feel like I have some sort of control over my life. I know that I don’t really have any control over my life right now, which makes this all so much harder.
Having Peace Corps put more rules and regulations on top of all the other ones that we already had, has probably added to the beginning stages of my current “ebb.” I was looking forward to meeting all my friends for Halloween,, and now being told I CAN’T, has been hard. In the Peace Corps when you are working so hard to “make a difference in the world,” which usually feels like a daunting task, reunions with familiar people are very important - I know that Peace Corps understand that, so the fact that they have implemented these new safety/security precautions just makes me realize the severity of the security situation in Honduras. How long will Peace Corps Honduras be around - will I be able to finish my two years here? Two questions that find their way to the front of my brain, and don’t really help with my current state of mind.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
What else is there left for them to take?
Today we got a bright and cheery e-mail from our Country Director. That was complete sarcasm. In the e-mail we were strictly told that we will not be able to go to Copan Ruinas for Halloween, and if we do we will be administratively separated from the Peace Corps. We were also informed that we are no longer allowed to have goodbye or welcome parties for volunteers that are COSing or just arriving in sites. This is due to the fact that apparently us volunteers in Honduras have been repeatedly dismissing the safety/security warnings about excessive alcohol consumption and late-night hours.
This news has bummed out, I'm pretty sure, every single volunteer in Honduras! Ya, i don't drink, but I am still a huge fan of meeting up with all the other volunteers in my area when the opportunity presents itself, and I was very excited to go to Copan Ruinas for Halloween! I will still make it over there eventually, but not for Halloween, I guess.
This has come as a surprise to most of the volunteers I have talked to about this since I read the e-mail about an hour ago. We all know and understand the Peace Corps Honduras is one of the high-risk countries, and so we all try to make the best of it. We stay in our sites and work, and then every so often are able to get together with other gringo/english speakers to take a break from our harsh realities for a moment. But, now PC has taken that away from us. Yes, we can still meet a few people here and there, but the fact that they are choosing to run our lives like this, makes things very frustrating.
I understand that there is a fine line between safe and out of control. When you have 45 gringos running around the streets of a city, probably a little out of control, but the fact of the matter is, i don't think any Hondurans would have the guts to try and rob that many gringos at one time! And as for safety - we all see things happen everyday that are scary and make us realize we are not in "kansas" anymore. We are most likely going to be robbed on a bus at some point during our stay here in Honduras, and we will probably see a dead person, too...these things are going to happen whether we are in a big group of gringos or solo - so why take our one last chance at sanity?
It said in the e-mail from our Country Director that we can't act like we did in the United States and go out and get drunk and crazy, and that ignoring the warnings of the Peace Corps could land us thrown out of country!!! That is enough to make most of us listen to these new policies, but we will do so begrudgingly!
Bellow is the letter that our Country Director forwarded us from the regional safety and security officer.
This news has bummed out, I'm pretty sure, every single volunteer in Honduras! Ya, i don't drink, but I am still a huge fan of meeting up with all the other volunteers in my area when the opportunity presents itself, and I was very excited to go to Copan Ruinas for Halloween! I will still make it over there eventually, but not for Halloween, I guess.
This has come as a surprise to most of the volunteers I have talked to about this since I read the e-mail about an hour ago. We all know and understand the Peace Corps Honduras is one of the high-risk countries, and so we all try to make the best of it. We stay in our sites and work, and then every so often are able to get together with other gringo/english speakers to take a break from our harsh realities for a moment. But, now PC has taken that away from us. Yes, we can still meet a few people here and there, but the fact that they are choosing to run our lives like this, makes things very frustrating.
I understand that there is a fine line between safe and out of control. When you have 45 gringos running around the streets of a city, probably a little out of control, but the fact of the matter is, i don't think any Hondurans would have the guts to try and rob that many gringos at one time! And as for safety - we all see things happen everyday that are scary and make us realize we are not in "kansas" anymore. We are most likely going to be robbed on a bus at some point during our stay here in Honduras, and we will probably see a dead person, too...these things are going to happen whether we are in a big group of gringos or solo - so why take our one last chance at sanity?
It said in the e-mail from our Country Director that we can't act like we did in the United States and go out and get drunk and crazy, and that ignoring the warnings of the Peace Corps could land us thrown out of country!!! That is enough to make most of us listen to these new policies, but we will do so begrudgingly!
Bellow is the letter that our Country Director forwarded us from the regional safety and security officer.
TO: Volunteers in Honduras
FROM: Carlos J. Torres, Regional Director for the Inter-America & Pacific Region
DATE: September 13, 2011
RE: Safety and Security
The safety and security of Peace Corps Volunteers is the Peace Corps’ highest priority.
We devote significant resources to providing Volunteers with the training, support, and
information they need to stay healthy and safe. At your post and here at Headquarters,
we are diligent in monitoring data, trends and promising practices to promote safe service
experiences for our Volunteers around the world.
The security environment for Volunteer service varies greatly across our 70+ countries of
operations. Many countries in Latin America have unique crime environments, including
countries where the State Department classifies crime as “critical” and where the Peace
Corps observes a higher incidence of crimes against Volunteers. Many of these
countries, including yours, are fantastic for meaningful Volunteer service and achieving
the Peace Corps’ three goals. However, the security environment requires greater
diligence and effort on the part of Volunteers, post staff, and the team here at
Headquarters as we work in our shared responsibility to promote Volunteer safety and
security. As a veteran of living and working in Latin America for over 30 years, I am
personally aware of this reality and I am fully committed to doing everything possible to
work with your Country Director to promote a safe, productive Volunteer experience.
Through this commitment and based on analysis of trends and practices in Latin America
and across the Peace Corps globe, I am asking you, your Country Director and your
Peace Corps post to adopt a series of reforms and policy changes. These reforms and
policy changes are aimed entirely at impacting the safety and security of Volunteers in a
positive way.
Specifically, I am asking for the following:
• Implementation of a 2-year host family stay program for new Volunteers;
• Time spent Out of Community for personal reasons (Personal Leave) cannot
exceed 3 overnights per month;
• Prohibition of large overnight gatherings of Volunteers, such as “despedidas” and
Halloween, due to security risks resulting from alcohol consumption and late-night
hours, unless pre-approved by the Country Director;
• We strengthen additional safety and security related policies of Volunteer
Handbooks, such as enforcement of Whereabouts and Travel policies;
• We strengthen the analysis of statistics, monitoring of data and mapping to assist
posts to monitor crime environments;
• We reduce the numbers of Volunteers which will enable us to enhance Volunteer
support;
• Further strengthen site identification and preparation; and,
• Increase the number of field /site visits provided by the Peace Corps to our
Volunteers in their host communities during service, particularly in the first six
months of service.
Through this memorandum I am asking that you work together with the staff and
leadership at your post to ensure successful implementation of these reforms and policy
changes. I realize some may not come easily, involve a change in the way we have done
business in the past, and require flexibility and adaptability on all of our parts.
I fully recognize there is no single answer which will provide a solution to the crime
environment in many Peace Corps countries around the world. However I do believe that
working together, as Volunteers, post staff, and Headquarters, we can and should take all
necessary actions that will mitigate risk for current and future Volunteers. That is the
sole intention of the reforms and policy changes that we are implementing in Honduras.
Thank you for your service.
Monday, September 12, 2011
And the Reality Hits...
Amanda and I have been hanging out a lot lately. We go dancing at different fiestas, go to Santa Rosa to hang out in a bigger city - we have been having a good time. Sometimes, it is almost like we are not even living in a third-world country. Yes, our sites are small and you can see the poverty and we are working with counterparts to try and educate the population about HIV/AIDS and nutrition for kids/babies, but they way technology is readily available and how people dress in Hollister and Abercrombie, we realized it is very easy to forget where we are. We are not forgetting our goals, and why we are here - it is just a matter of keeping our guard up. It is sad that the two years that we are going to be living here, we will need to have our guards up, but the fact of the matter is that we will. And, we had that realization on Saturday!
Yet another fiesta was going on in my site, and so of course Amanda and I went. Any reason to go dancing, and we are there. The fiesta went until about 1:30 a.m. and as everyone was leaving the community center that it was held in, a fight broke out. This is normal - any time there is a fiesta, people are drinking, and any time people are drinking, people are going to end up fighting. That is the same anywhere, whether you are in Honduras, Alaska, Florida… it is all the same. The difference, however, is that in Honduras, pretty much everyone walks around with a gun, and if not a gun, than a knife. This particular Saturday, it was a gun. The crazy part is that the people at the door of the community center were “patting people down” to make sure know weapons ended up inside, but apparently they were not doing a very good job because people still had their guns on them.
As this fight broke out in the street out front of the community center, a couple of our friends grabbed Amanda and I and pulled us farther down the street. Then as the fighters moved around yelling at each other, we sort of kept moving back. At this point, Amanda and I were fine - two guys yelling at each other with a hand full of other people trying to keep them from landing punches - we could handle that. The guys fighting kept getting a little closer, so the guys we were with pulled us behind a truck that was parked on the side of the road. Up until this point, everything was ok. The guys we were with were being protective and it didn’t seem like there was any real danger, but that was when reality set in. It was right then that one of the men fighting pulled out a gun and starting shooting it into the air - he was drunk, he didn’t want to actually hurt anyone, he just wanted to freak the other guy out. But, after his arm got tired and he lowered it a little, the shots were not going into the air anymore - at that moment, the tire that we were standing next to started losing air. I noticed, but Amanda didn’t. When the guys we were with noticed, they all started talking about it and I told Amanda to listen, when she heard the air leaking out of the tire, she got freaked out - we were both really freaked out, and one of our friends grabbed our hands and pulled us farther down the street away from all the commotion! However, one of our other friends just walked off in front of us - that was irritating. Then he came back to where we were and asked what was wrong. We tried to explain why we were so shaken and how him just walking off was not ok, but he didn’t get it. He didn’t understand he just said “oh that is just my crazy cousin - he is drunk - it was an accident.” We tried to explain how that didn’t make it ok - ya it was an accident, but we still had a bullet hit a tire that was literally less than two feet away from us!!!
People here in Honduras are just so used to it - people have guns and shoot them off when they are drunk. If someone were to be hit, that would just be an unfortunate accident. But, in the U.S., yes, people have guns and sometimes people get shot on accident, but whoever did the shooting would most likely end up in jail for the rest of their life, and the family of the person who was shot would grieve forever. Not here. If someone would have been shot that night, there is a good chance the body would still have been their in the morning, nobody would go after the person that did the shooting, and the family of the person who died would of course be sad, but it would just be another normal thing that happened that they would eventually forget about. People being killed is not a cause for alarm here - it is just a natural part of life that everyone seems to have come to terms with. This is what Amanda and I and the rest of the volunteers here have to come to terms with. We have to realize that we are not in “Kansas” anymore. It may seem safe most of the time, and we may feel like nothing will ever happen to us - but unless we keep our guards up, one day something will happen and who knows when, where, or what - but we have to be as prepared as possible.
During training last week the Country Director, Emily, told us that this is part of service where people start letting their guards down - we have been in Honduras for more than six months and we have been in site for more than four. We feel settled into our communities; it feels like home; we have friends and neighbors and a somewhat normal work schedule; we want to think that nothing could ever happen to us. But, like I just said - we need to keep our guards up, because something can always happen when you least expect it.
Yet another fiesta was going on in my site, and so of course Amanda and I went. Any reason to go dancing, and we are there. The fiesta went until about 1:30 a.m. and as everyone was leaving the community center that it was held in, a fight broke out. This is normal - any time there is a fiesta, people are drinking, and any time people are drinking, people are going to end up fighting. That is the same anywhere, whether you are in Honduras, Alaska, Florida… it is all the same. The difference, however, is that in Honduras, pretty much everyone walks around with a gun, and if not a gun, than a knife. This particular Saturday, it was a gun. The crazy part is that the people at the door of the community center were “patting people down” to make sure know weapons ended up inside, but apparently they were not doing a very good job because people still had their guns on them.
As this fight broke out in the street out front of the community center, a couple of our friends grabbed Amanda and I and pulled us farther down the street. Then as the fighters moved around yelling at each other, we sort of kept moving back. At this point, Amanda and I were fine - two guys yelling at each other with a hand full of other people trying to keep them from landing punches - we could handle that. The guys fighting kept getting a little closer, so the guys we were with pulled us behind a truck that was parked on the side of the road. Up until this point, everything was ok. The guys we were with were being protective and it didn’t seem like there was any real danger, but that was when reality set in. It was right then that one of the men fighting pulled out a gun and starting shooting it into the air - he was drunk, he didn’t want to actually hurt anyone, he just wanted to freak the other guy out. But, after his arm got tired and he lowered it a little, the shots were not going into the air anymore - at that moment, the tire that we were standing next to started losing air. I noticed, but Amanda didn’t. When the guys we were with noticed, they all started talking about it and I told Amanda to listen, when she heard the air leaking out of the tire, she got freaked out - we were both really freaked out, and one of our friends grabbed our hands and pulled us farther down the street away from all the commotion! However, one of our other friends just walked off in front of us - that was irritating. Then he came back to where we were and asked what was wrong. We tried to explain why we were so shaken and how him just walking off was not ok, but he didn’t get it. He didn’t understand he just said “oh that is just my crazy cousin - he is drunk - it was an accident.” We tried to explain how that didn’t make it ok - ya it was an accident, but we still had a bullet hit a tire that was literally less than two feet away from us!!!
People here in Honduras are just so used to it - people have guns and shoot them off when they are drunk. If someone were to be hit, that would just be an unfortunate accident. But, in the U.S., yes, people have guns and sometimes people get shot on accident, but whoever did the shooting would most likely end up in jail for the rest of their life, and the family of the person who was shot would grieve forever. Not here. If someone would have been shot that night, there is a good chance the body would still have been their in the morning, nobody would go after the person that did the shooting, and the family of the person who died would of course be sad, but it would just be another normal thing that happened that they would eventually forget about. People being killed is not a cause for alarm here - it is just a natural part of life that everyone seems to have come to terms with. This is what Amanda and I and the rest of the volunteers here have to come to terms with. We have to realize that we are not in “Kansas” anymore. It may seem safe most of the time, and we may feel like nothing will ever happen to us - but unless we keep our guards up, one day something will happen and who knows when, where, or what - but we have to be as prepared as possible.
During training last week the Country Director, Emily, told us that this is part of service where people start letting their guards down - we have been in Honduras for more than six months and we have been in site for more than four. We feel settled into our communities; it feels like home; we have friends and neighbors and a somewhat normal work schedule; we want to think that nothing could ever happen to us. But, like I just said - we need to keep our guards up, because something can always happen when you least expect it.
Jaloning Adventures
Written September 7 & 10
It is currently 8 p.m. on a Wednesday night and I am completely ready for bed. This has been my life for the last few days! Not sleeping Sunday night has really messed with my sleeping pattern and ability. Let me start from the beginning:
Friday, Amanda came to my site because it was the start of the Feria. Every town here in Honduras has a feria to celebrate a patron saint, and mine happens to be the month of September, which fits nicely with the celebration of Independence Day (Sept. 15) of all of Central America from Spain!! So, this is going to be a pretty happening month. Amanda came to visit to see what was going to happen for the start of my feria. We ended up dancing most of the night, of course, because we just can’t dance enough! Amanda is the one who taught me how to Bachata, which is my new favorite dance ever!! I’m still not much of a Merengue dancer, but I put in an honest effort, and when I have a good partner, it is really fun, too! However, we lost power in my site at about 4 p.m. Friday afternoon. Thankfully the people organizing the dance for the night had a generator, a fairly large generator, because to power all the strobe lights and colored lights bouncing around the dance floor along with all the electric/sound equipment, I think they needed a lot of juice. The dance floor was a just the lawn by the local restaurant in town, and it had rained recently, so there were some mushy spots, but the strobe lights and colored lights shinning all around us made it easy to forget how dirty you feet were getting.
Satruday, we still didn’t have electricity, and it stayed off all day. Amanda and I were basically dying because it was hot, and we couldn’t use my fan because there was no power. We ended up spending the morning lying on my kitchen floor because it is tile and was nice and cool. When the power is out, there is also no cell phone signal, but you can send a text from my back door sometimes. So, Amanda and I were lying on the floor in my kitchen with our cell phones aimed at the doorway trying to send text messages. At one point, a couple friends came over, and yes, we were still lying on the floor. They thought we were a little weird for it, but after describing why we were doing it, they seemed to understand. They were heading to the hot springs to cool off, which I just couldn’t understand. It was hot out, and we were sweating and the hot springs were about the last thing in the world we wanted to do. They said that it would cool you off, but we didn’t believe them! Saturday night, when the power came back on, Amanda and I ended up just watching a TV program on my computer and going to sleep at a more reasonable hour than Friday night, but still quite late.
Sunday, we ended up going to Santa Rosa, where I was able to actually get some work done on the Women’s Health Manual that I am working on. The bus ride back to my site was interesting. It was 6 p.m. on a Sunday, and we were two of about 12 people that were on the bus, which was quite unusual considering they usually pack so many people on the buses that you can’t move or breath. But, being so late on a Sunday, I guess they know there are not very many people heading back in my direction. A guy begging for money rode with us for a little while, until he realized none of us were going to give him anything, so then he hopped off. The rides back to site always seem to be so much longer than the ride to Santa Rosa. Going to Santa Rosa, it is always exciting - an adventure out of site. But going home, I always just want to be there already, so the bus ride always feels like it takes forever. This bus ride was even worse because it was so late and it was starting to get dark. As the sun was going down, and the fog and rain was settling in, it seemed very late, and it felt like we should have been home hours ago. The ride is really only about 45 minutes, but somehow it felt more like two hours.
We arrived back to my site and made it up to my house in one piece. The trek up to my house is never easy. Hiking up the 60+ steps right before my house is always a challenge, especially when you are overtired, have been traveling and just want to get home. We made our way up to my house, one step up at a time. It took us a little extra time, but we finally made it. Once we got there, we made macaroni and cheese, which was one of the most amazing things I had eaten in the six months I have been in Honduras. We were so worried we were going to lose power again and not be able to make it, but we lucked out. I probably should have bought a gas stovetop, but I didn’t want to have to deal with all of that - the extra hassle is not worth not being able to cook sometimes - in my opinion. It is crazy what you crave living down here, though. I never really ate mac and cheese in the states, but here, it always sound amazing. After dinner, Amanda played around with my music, putting some on her iPod, and I packed for our trip to Siguat! Reconnect was going to start on September 6th, but we needed to be in Siguat by the 5th at 6 p.m. We didn’t want to pay for a bus, so our plan was to jalon (hitch hike) our way there. Luckily, I remembered that my next-door neighbor actually works in La Esperanza, which is more than halfway to Comayagua, which is where we wanted to go for the day before training started! I talked to my neighbor about giving Amanda and I a ride, and he was fine with, but it turned out he was actually leaving at 4 a.m. in the morning, rather than 5, when he usually left. We didn’t want to pay for a bus, or deal with a lot of bus transfers, so we decided to just do it.
So, Amanda and I listened to music while I packed, and then a couple friends came over and we were all just listing to music and chilling at my house. We all stayed up really late, and by the time everyone left and it was just Amanda and I left at my house, we decided that trying to sleep was a bad idea because we were afraid that we wouldn’t wake up to our alarms and that we would miss our ride! I’m glad we decided to just stay up, because when my alarm was supposed to go off at 3:40 a.m., it didn’t. I looked, and I had actually set it for 3:40 p.m. Like zombies, we walked across the street to my neighbors house, and luckily only had to wait about five minutes before he was ready. We figured we would be waiting at least a half an hour if this guy ran on the usual Honduran time, but thankfully, he didn’t! We made it to Gracias in about a half an hour, but there we had to switch from my neighbors little pick up to the big work truck. We got to ride up front and there was a lot of space, so we just slept off and on the whole way to La Esperanza. The truck must have been made somewhere in Europe because the steering wheel was on the wrong side of the car. I am usually ok with that, but Hondurans are some crazy drivers, so it made me a little nervous. We obviously arrived just fine, though!
We were in La Ezperanza before 8 a.m., which was amazing. We ended up just hopping on a bus because it was early and we had no energy for trying to find a jalon. It was only 80 lempira from there to Comayagua, so it wasn’t too bad! We got to Comayagua at about 10 a.m. and our first stop was Dunkin Doughnuts because we wanted a bagel and cream cheese - I didn’t even get a doughnut, which I was very sad about later that day! While eating our bagels, we decided to go to La Villa de San Antonio and see our old host families from Field Based Training back in March, April and May! We didn’t let them know we were coming, so they were very surprised to see us. It was a lot of fun. We brought them doughnuts, and spent some time catching up and then went back to Comayagua where we met up with Nina (another H-18 health volunteer). We were all staying at Andrea’s house (an H-12 health volunteer, she extended her service). We all went out for dinner, and when we got back to Andrea’s apartment, Nina, Amanda and I all fell asleep - between 8:30 and 9 p.m. We were like grandparents, but we were running on nothing. Nina had gotten up early for her 7-hour bus ride, too, so we were ALL exhausted.
The next day, we just relaxed in Comayagua, went to the grocery store, bought cheese and crackers, and made a picnic in the park! Then we did a little bit of tourist shopping, in the limited stores that are there, and then it was time to head to Siguat to start Reconnect - the annual training/get to know the other volunteers in your projects for Peace Corps.
This was another adventure! We went back to the apartment, packed our stuff, put on our heavy-ass back packs and then headed to where we thought was the road for Siguat. We walked down the meridian of the street for about 20 minutes before we realized that we were actually on the wrong street. There is a highway-type road that goes to La Libertad, and that was the one we were walking on, so we jumped in a cab and took it out to the mine highway for Siguat. Once we were there, it only took us about five minutes before a truck pulled over that was headed to San Pedro, which was perfect because they have to pass through Siguat.
However, about five minutes into this jalon, they pulled onto a small dirt road, which was mildly scary until they stopped and said they were hungry and asked if we wanted to jump out and find another ride or hang out while they ate. So we just decided to hang out while they ate. Even though getting that particular jalon was not that difficult, we didn’t feel like trying again - and besides, we had time, so why not hang out? The place they were eating ended up being very nice. There was a small lagoon/lake/pond thing with a little rowboat you could use. The area with the tables was open so you could see the beautiful lagoon. The food looked great, we didn’t eat, but the seafood soup the guys were eating smelt and looked delicious. They asked us if we wanted anything, but we had way to much pena (kind of embarrassment) to say yes. We ended up letting them buy us a drink, though. We stayed there for a little more than an hour, which was more time than we should have, but we all just kept chatting. They had a lot of questions about Peace Corps and what we were doing with our projects. The older one had worked with Peace Corps people before, so he knew a lot about it and was very interested in what we were working on. There names were Eduin and Jose Miguel - or at least that is what we decided their names were after they dropped us of and we were trying to remember. Once we left the restaurant, the jalon was very fast. We got to Siguat a little after 5 p.m., which was perfect. We were able to grab a cab, go to the grocery store and stock up (the hotel is really far out of town and we were not going to be able to go back) and then grab a cab out to the hotel. We got there basically right at 6 p.m., which is when we were supposed to arrive. Thankfully, we were not the last ones - that would have been a little embarrassing!
So, all in all, our jaloning adventure was a success- Amanda and I did cheat and took a bus from La Esperanza to Comayagua, but it was only 80 lempira, and we arrived in Comayagua by 10 a.m., so we are just going to let that one slide!
Jaloning back home was a total success!! The bus from the hotel dropped us off at a shopping center because we wanted coffee, I needed to find a present for a friend in site, and some gals wanted Wendy’s - but, once we were ready, we went to the highway, and grabbed a jalon to the desvio (the sort of fork in the road) for La Esperanza, and there, we only stood there for less than 10 minutes, probably about five, and then a big truck stopped. It was a little creepy for a couple seconds until I finally got a look at the guy driving - it was someone from my town! He recognized me and pulled over to see if we were headed there. WHAT LUCK!!! We ended up in my site at about 2:30 p.m. - a little more than four hours!! From there, Amanda and I headed to my house to go to sleep - not sleeping much during training, and then jaloning is very exhausting!
Jose Miguel and Eduin
Gotta love chillin' in the back of a pickup!!!
It is currently 8 p.m. on a Wednesday night and I am completely ready for bed. This has been my life for the last few days! Not sleeping Sunday night has really messed with my sleeping pattern and ability. Let me start from the beginning:
Friday, Amanda came to my site because it was the start of the Feria. Every town here in Honduras has a feria to celebrate a patron saint, and mine happens to be the month of September, which fits nicely with the celebration of Independence Day (Sept. 15) of all of Central America from Spain!! So, this is going to be a pretty happening month. Amanda came to visit to see what was going to happen for the start of my feria. We ended up dancing most of the night, of course, because we just can’t dance enough! Amanda is the one who taught me how to Bachata, which is my new favorite dance ever!! I’m still not much of a Merengue dancer, but I put in an honest effort, and when I have a good partner, it is really fun, too! However, we lost power in my site at about 4 p.m. Friday afternoon. Thankfully the people organizing the dance for the night had a generator, a fairly large generator, because to power all the strobe lights and colored lights bouncing around the dance floor along with all the electric/sound equipment, I think they needed a lot of juice. The dance floor was a just the lawn by the local restaurant in town, and it had rained recently, so there were some mushy spots, but the strobe lights and colored lights shinning all around us made it easy to forget how dirty you feet were getting.
Satruday, we still didn’t have electricity, and it stayed off all day. Amanda and I were basically dying because it was hot, and we couldn’t use my fan because there was no power. We ended up spending the morning lying on my kitchen floor because it is tile and was nice and cool. When the power is out, there is also no cell phone signal, but you can send a text from my back door sometimes. So, Amanda and I were lying on the floor in my kitchen with our cell phones aimed at the doorway trying to send text messages. At one point, a couple friends came over, and yes, we were still lying on the floor. They thought we were a little weird for it, but after describing why we were doing it, they seemed to understand. They were heading to the hot springs to cool off, which I just couldn’t understand. It was hot out, and we were sweating and the hot springs were about the last thing in the world we wanted to do. They said that it would cool you off, but we didn’t believe them! Saturday night, when the power came back on, Amanda and I ended up just watching a TV program on my computer and going to sleep at a more reasonable hour than Friday night, but still quite late.
Sunday, we ended up going to Santa Rosa, where I was able to actually get some work done on the Women’s Health Manual that I am working on. The bus ride back to my site was interesting. It was 6 p.m. on a Sunday, and we were two of about 12 people that were on the bus, which was quite unusual considering they usually pack so many people on the buses that you can’t move or breath. But, being so late on a Sunday, I guess they know there are not very many people heading back in my direction. A guy begging for money rode with us for a little while, until he realized none of us were going to give him anything, so then he hopped off. The rides back to site always seem to be so much longer than the ride to Santa Rosa. Going to Santa Rosa, it is always exciting - an adventure out of site. But going home, I always just want to be there already, so the bus ride always feels like it takes forever. This bus ride was even worse because it was so late and it was starting to get dark. As the sun was going down, and the fog and rain was settling in, it seemed very late, and it felt like we should have been home hours ago. The ride is really only about 45 minutes, but somehow it felt more like two hours.
We arrived back to my site and made it up to my house in one piece. The trek up to my house is never easy. Hiking up the 60+ steps right before my house is always a challenge, especially when you are overtired, have been traveling and just want to get home. We made our way up to my house, one step up at a time. It took us a little extra time, but we finally made it. Once we got there, we made macaroni and cheese, which was one of the most amazing things I had eaten in the six months I have been in Honduras. We were so worried we were going to lose power again and not be able to make it, but we lucked out. I probably should have bought a gas stovetop, but I didn’t want to have to deal with all of that - the extra hassle is not worth not being able to cook sometimes - in my opinion. It is crazy what you crave living down here, though. I never really ate mac and cheese in the states, but here, it always sound amazing. After dinner, Amanda played around with my music, putting some on her iPod, and I packed for our trip to Siguat! Reconnect was going to start on September 6th, but we needed to be in Siguat by the 5th at 6 p.m. We didn’t want to pay for a bus, so our plan was to jalon (hitch hike) our way there. Luckily, I remembered that my next-door neighbor actually works in La Esperanza, which is more than halfway to Comayagua, which is where we wanted to go for the day before training started! I talked to my neighbor about giving Amanda and I a ride, and he was fine with, but it turned out he was actually leaving at 4 a.m. in the morning, rather than 5, when he usually left. We didn’t want to pay for a bus, or deal with a lot of bus transfers, so we decided to just do it.
So, Amanda and I listened to music while I packed, and then a couple friends came over and we were all just listing to music and chilling at my house. We all stayed up really late, and by the time everyone left and it was just Amanda and I left at my house, we decided that trying to sleep was a bad idea because we were afraid that we wouldn’t wake up to our alarms and that we would miss our ride! I’m glad we decided to just stay up, because when my alarm was supposed to go off at 3:40 a.m., it didn’t. I looked, and I had actually set it for 3:40 p.m. Like zombies, we walked across the street to my neighbors house, and luckily only had to wait about five minutes before he was ready. We figured we would be waiting at least a half an hour if this guy ran on the usual Honduran time, but thankfully, he didn’t! We made it to Gracias in about a half an hour, but there we had to switch from my neighbors little pick up to the big work truck. We got to ride up front and there was a lot of space, so we just slept off and on the whole way to La Esperanza. The truck must have been made somewhere in Europe because the steering wheel was on the wrong side of the car. I am usually ok with that, but Hondurans are some crazy drivers, so it made me a little nervous. We obviously arrived just fine, though!
We were in La Ezperanza before 8 a.m., which was amazing. We ended up just hopping on a bus because it was early and we had no energy for trying to find a jalon. It was only 80 lempira from there to Comayagua, so it wasn’t too bad! We got to Comayagua at about 10 a.m. and our first stop was Dunkin Doughnuts because we wanted a bagel and cream cheese - I didn’t even get a doughnut, which I was very sad about later that day! While eating our bagels, we decided to go to La Villa de San Antonio and see our old host families from Field Based Training back in March, April and May! We didn’t let them know we were coming, so they were very surprised to see us. It was a lot of fun. We brought them doughnuts, and spent some time catching up and then went back to Comayagua where we met up with Nina (another H-18 health volunteer). We were all staying at Andrea’s house (an H-12 health volunteer, she extended her service). We all went out for dinner, and when we got back to Andrea’s apartment, Nina, Amanda and I all fell asleep - between 8:30 and 9 p.m. We were like grandparents, but we were running on nothing. Nina had gotten up early for her 7-hour bus ride, too, so we were ALL exhausted.
The next day, we just relaxed in Comayagua, went to the grocery store, bought cheese and crackers, and made a picnic in the park! Then we did a little bit of tourist shopping, in the limited stores that are there, and then it was time to head to Siguat to start Reconnect - the annual training/get to know the other volunteers in your projects for Peace Corps.
This was another adventure! We went back to the apartment, packed our stuff, put on our heavy-ass back packs and then headed to where we thought was the road for Siguat. We walked down the meridian of the street for about 20 minutes before we realized that we were actually on the wrong street. There is a highway-type road that goes to La Libertad, and that was the one we were walking on, so we jumped in a cab and took it out to the mine highway for Siguat. Once we were there, it only took us about five minutes before a truck pulled over that was headed to San Pedro, which was perfect because they have to pass through Siguat.
However, about five minutes into this jalon, they pulled onto a small dirt road, which was mildly scary until they stopped and said they were hungry and asked if we wanted to jump out and find another ride or hang out while they ate. So we just decided to hang out while they ate. Even though getting that particular jalon was not that difficult, we didn’t feel like trying again - and besides, we had time, so why not hang out? The place they were eating ended up being very nice. There was a small lagoon/lake/pond thing with a little rowboat you could use. The area with the tables was open so you could see the beautiful lagoon. The food looked great, we didn’t eat, but the seafood soup the guys were eating smelt and looked delicious. They asked us if we wanted anything, but we had way to much pena (kind of embarrassment) to say yes. We ended up letting them buy us a drink, though. We stayed there for a little more than an hour, which was more time than we should have, but we all just kept chatting. They had a lot of questions about Peace Corps and what we were doing with our projects. The older one had worked with Peace Corps people before, so he knew a lot about it and was very interested in what we were working on. There names were Eduin and Jose Miguel - or at least that is what we decided their names were after they dropped us of and we were trying to remember. Once we left the restaurant, the jalon was very fast. We got to Siguat a little after 5 p.m., which was perfect. We were able to grab a cab, go to the grocery store and stock up (the hotel is really far out of town and we were not going to be able to go back) and then grab a cab out to the hotel. We got there basically right at 6 p.m., which is when we were supposed to arrive. Thankfully, we were not the last ones - that would have been a little embarrassing!
So, all in all, our jaloning adventure was a success- Amanda and I did cheat and took a bus from La Esperanza to Comayagua, but it was only 80 lempira, and we arrived in Comayagua by 10 a.m., so we are just going to let that one slide!
Jaloning back home was a total success!! The bus from the hotel dropped us off at a shopping center because we wanted coffee, I needed to find a present for a friend in site, and some gals wanted Wendy’s - but, once we were ready, we went to the highway, and grabbed a jalon to the desvio (the sort of fork in the road) for La Esperanza, and there, we only stood there for less than 10 minutes, probably about five, and then a big truck stopped. It was a little creepy for a couple seconds until I finally got a look at the guy driving - it was someone from my town! He recognized me and pulled over to see if we were headed there. WHAT LUCK!!! We ended up in my site at about 2:30 p.m. - a little more than four hours!! From there, Amanda and I headed to my house to go to sleep - not sleeping much during training, and then jaloning is very exhausting!
Jaloning to Siguat from Comayagua
Jose Miguel and Eduin
Gotta love chillin' in the back of a pickup!!!Friday, September 2, 2011
The Six-Month Mark!
Written September 1st
So, I have been in Honduras for more than six months, and I have been a health volunteer for Peace Corps for three and a half months. It is amazing how fast this time has gone by. So, what have I accomplished in six months - what have I experienced - what have I learned - what crazy things have I seen. These are all very good questions that I have been asked, and am going to attempt to shed a little bit of light on those topics right now. Because I have touched on some of this in previous posts, I will do my best to mix it up a bit.
To start with the work aspect of my being in Honduras, I feel like I have been able to complete the goals I set out for myself before arriving in site. I have gotten to know the people of my community, I have visited the aldeas (small villages) around my town, I have given a few charlas that I feel people enjoyed: diarrhea, cancer prevention, and infant nutrition. I, of course, want to give a lot more charlas, but it has been a process for me to get to the point where I feel comfortable standing in front of a bunch of Honduran women, speaking in Spanish. I also started the abstinence program that the health project here in Honduras has. I meet with the female 5th and 6th graders every Thursday and with the males on Fridays. I have been doing it for about two months now, and I am about half way through the program. I am definitely getting through to the girls. They always have great questions and are genuinely interested in what I am teaching them. The boys are another story. I have to work very heard to keep their attention, and I feel like they really are not learning much. I know there are a handful of them that pay attention, or try to when the rest of the class is being very disruptive, so at least I am getting through to a couple of them. Hopefully those boys will be four less that will end up impregnating a teenage girl!
I also started the same abstinence project at the high school. This has been a very different experience than with my 5th and 6th graders. How we arranged it was to have 10 female “leaders” and 10 male “leaders” from each course at the high school (there are 3). So in an ideal world, I would have 30 girls and 30 boys to teach about abstinence, self esteem, HIV prevention, ect. Then, the 10 from each course could then help me teach the rest of the students. Like I said, this is in an ideal situation. We have been trying for about three weeks - today will be week four! The first week, there was confusion and only the students from segundo curso showed up. The second week, I was in training in Siguat, so I couldn’t be there. Then, last week there was an event at the grade school, so only five students showed up for my training. I ended up letting them leave because there was no reason for me to give them their pre-test when I would just have to give it again when all the students were there.
So, today, I am meeting with the director of the high school, and we are going to chat about the situation. He said he is going to have a meeting with the students that are supposed to be attending my training, to inform them that it is mandatory! So, hopefully this will get the ball rolling.
That is about it for my work, work. I have also joined the AIN-C coordinator a few times to help weigh children under the age of 2, in the aldeas around my site. AIN-C is an organization that monitors baby weights to make sure that they are not malnourished. I love going to weigh the babies! I haven’t gone in more than a month because the coordinator that I would usually go with has been studying for exams to become a lawyer! I should be able to go this month, though! I am hoping to be able to give some nutrition charlas while the babies are being weighed. Nutrition is one of the things I think is most important. When I see babies being given coffee, chips, candy, or cookies, I just cringe! And they are given these things instead of fruit or something that actually has a nutritious value. Babies can’t grow and be healthy if all they are eating is chips, cookies and tortillas! This is definitely the topic I am most passionate about, so I need to overcome my fear of speaking in front of large groups of people in Spanish, and start teaching these women how to give proper nutrition to their babies!
I have definitely been enjoying my time here in Honduras. I have made some great friends (Hondurans and other Volunteers), and I love to spend my free time and weekends with them. Amanda, another volunteer, has become one of my favorite people here in Honduras. Together, we have been having adventures, and are planning much more for our two years in Honduras! We’ve been to the hot springs in Gracias - for my birthday - as well as the hot springs at the river, and the ones in my site. We have given cute ayudantes (bus attendants) our phone numbers, we’ve danced the nights away in Santa Rosa, we’ve jumped in the river in the middle of the night, we rode a rickety, Honduran Farris wheel, we’ve sat in the park stalking families with their cute babies (baby fever), we’ve gone to small-town fiestas where everyone just stares at the gringas. We have done so much more, but what I’m looking forward is to what we will do next and during the next two years of our life here in Honduas.
Amanda and I on the Ferris Wheel in Santa Rosa
The first thing that pops into my head for a learning experience, is that large groups of gringos need to be careful when walking the streets of Santa Rosa late at night - you just never know when the police will decide to put you in jail for no reason. Thankfully I was not part of the group that was incarcerated, but I don’t ever want to end up in Honduran jail, so I will definitely be cautious from now on when I’m in Santa Rosa at night.
I have learned that I need to not ever be embarrassed or too shy to just do something. Whether it is giving a charla, trying a new type of food, trying a new activity (like soccer) - what ever it is, I just need to try it out. Maybe I won’t end up liking it, but maybe I will love it - there is only one way to know for sure.
I have also learned that my trainers were quite right when they said that Hondurans run on their own time. When something is supposed to start at 9:30 am, I would not be surprised if it doesn’t start until after 11am.
On that same note, I have come to terms with the fact that if there is something scheduled, a meeting, a soccer practice, what ever, it is not uncommon for nobody to show up!
I have learned to take most of the advice that I am given from Hondurans with a grain for salt. When I’m told that I shouldn’t drink a lot of water because it will make me gain weight - I just brush it off. It is something they have been thinking their whole life - me telling them they are wrong is not going to change their mind.
Also, I have come to terms with the fact that Hondurans are VERY blunt. They call you by your most prominent feature - if you are bald they will call you baldy, if you are fat, they will call you fatty, if you are white they will call you gringa! So, I am either called gordita or gringa! So, after six months, I’m pretty much used to it. But, when it is someone I have never met and they come up to me, squeeze my arm and say “que gordita,” it is a little hard to restrain myself from wanting to punch that person in the face.
I have also learned that Hondurans have no sense of personal space. They will come to your house and then just sit there. It is very awkward, or I think so anyway. I feel like I need to force conversation because nobody is saying anything. Also, personal space in the sense of my personal bubble. When people meet me and squeeze my arm, that is an invasion of my personal space, but they don’t realize that. And, when you are on a bus that crams on about 50 people more than the maximum capacity, you get parts of people resting on you that you try really hard to ignore!!
I guess the craziest thing I have seen is when mothers are feeding their infants coffee! You would never see that in the states, and no matter how many times I see it here, it will never be ok.
I actually saw a chicken on one of the chicken buses this week! That was exciting. I thought it was dead at first because the women carried it on by the legs and it looked very limp. But then 10 minutes later I looked over at her and the chicken was sitting on her lap with its eyes open!
A giant spider in the middle of the road was a little hard to handle, but at least it wasn’t in my house.
Yesterday, when I was running, I saw a dog get hit by a car! That is something that can happen in the states, too, but here, nobody thinks twice about it. The driver just kept on going and the rest of the cars that drive by just drive right over it. In the states the driver, hopefully, would have pulled over and called animal patrol.
Something I see everyday is little kids with all their teeth rotting out of their mouth because of all the sugar they eat, and they never brush their teeth. That is just sad to see!
Pigs, roosters, cows, horses, and ducks just roaming the streets looking for food.
Thankfully I have not seen anyone be killed or any dead people!
Today, I have 33 days until I leave for the United States for my sister’s wedding. It is going to be so weird to go back to the states, especially for such a short amount of time. I’m going to go, and then turn around and come right back - it will feel like some weird dream. The culture shock is going to be a little extreme, but hopefully it won’t mess me up to much to the point where I basically have to start all over again when I get back to Honduras!
So, I have been in Honduras for more than six months, and I have been a health volunteer for Peace Corps for three and a half months. It is amazing how fast this time has gone by. So, what have I accomplished in six months - what have I experienced - what have I learned - what crazy things have I seen. These are all very good questions that I have been asked, and am going to attempt to shed a little bit of light on those topics right now. Because I have touched on some of this in previous posts, I will do my best to mix it up a bit.
Work, Work, Work
To start with the work aspect of my being in Honduras, I feel like I have been able to complete the goals I set out for myself before arriving in site. I have gotten to know the people of my community, I have visited the aldeas (small villages) around my town, I have given a few charlas that I feel people enjoyed: diarrhea, cancer prevention, and infant nutrition. I, of course, want to give a lot more charlas, but it has been a process for me to get to the point where I feel comfortable standing in front of a bunch of Honduran women, speaking in Spanish. I also started the abstinence program that the health project here in Honduras has. I meet with the female 5th and 6th graders every Thursday and with the males on Fridays. I have been doing it for about two months now, and I am about half way through the program. I am definitely getting through to the girls. They always have great questions and are genuinely interested in what I am teaching them. The boys are another story. I have to work very heard to keep their attention, and I feel like they really are not learning much. I know there are a handful of them that pay attention, or try to when the rest of the class is being very disruptive, so at least I am getting through to a couple of them. Hopefully those boys will be four less that will end up impregnating a teenage girl!
I also started the same abstinence project at the high school. This has been a very different experience than with my 5th and 6th graders. How we arranged it was to have 10 female “leaders” and 10 male “leaders” from each course at the high school (there are 3). So in an ideal world, I would have 30 girls and 30 boys to teach about abstinence, self esteem, HIV prevention, ect. Then, the 10 from each course could then help me teach the rest of the students. Like I said, this is in an ideal situation. We have been trying for about three weeks - today will be week four! The first week, there was confusion and only the students from segundo curso showed up. The second week, I was in training in Siguat, so I couldn’t be there. Then, last week there was an event at the grade school, so only five students showed up for my training. I ended up letting them leave because there was no reason for me to give them their pre-test when I would just have to give it again when all the students were there.
So, today, I am meeting with the director of the high school, and we are going to chat about the situation. He said he is going to have a meeting with the students that are supposed to be attending my training, to inform them that it is mandatory! So, hopefully this will get the ball rolling.
That is about it for my work, work. I have also joined the AIN-C coordinator a few times to help weigh children under the age of 2, in the aldeas around my site. AIN-C is an organization that monitors baby weights to make sure that they are not malnourished. I love going to weigh the babies! I haven’t gone in more than a month because the coordinator that I would usually go with has been studying for exams to become a lawyer! I should be able to go this month, though! I am hoping to be able to give some nutrition charlas while the babies are being weighed. Nutrition is one of the things I think is most important. When I see babies being given coffee, chips, candy, or cookies, I just cringe! And they are given these things instead of fruit or something that actually has a nutritious value. Babies can’t grow and be healthy if all they are eating is chips, cookies and tortillas! This is definitely the topic I am most passionate about, so I need to overcome my fear of speaking in front of large groups of people in Spanish, and start teaching these women how to give proper nutrition to their babies!
ADVENTURES
I have definitely been enjoying my time here in Honduras. I have made some great friends (Hondurans and other Volunteers), and I love to spend my free time and weekends with them. Amanda, another volunteer, has become one of my favorite people here in Honduras. Together, we have been having adventures, and are planning much more for our two years in Honduras! We’ve been to the hot springs in Gracias - for my birthday - as well as the hot springs at the river, and the ones in my site. We have given cute ayudantes (bus attendants) our phone numbers, we’ve danced the nights away in Santa Rosa, we’ve jumped in the river in the middle of the night, we rode a rickety, Honduran Farris wheel, we’ve sat in the park stalking families with their cute babies (baby fever), we’ve gone to small-town fiestas where everyone just stares at the gringas. We have done so much more, but what I’m looking forward is to what we will do next and during the next two years of our life here in Honduas.
Amanda and I on the Ferris Wheel in Santa Rosa
LEARNING EXPERIENCES
The first thing that pops into my head for a learning experience, is that large groups of gringos need to be careful when walking the streets of Santa Rosa late at night - you just never know when the police will decide to put you in jail for no reason. Thankfully I was not part of the group that was incarcerated, but I don’t ever want to end up in Honduran jail, so I will definitely be cautious from now on when I’m in Santa Rosa at night.
I have learned that I need to not ever be embarrassed or too shy to just do something. Whether it is giving a charla, trying a new type of food, trying a new activity (like soccer) - what ever it is, I just need to try it out. Maybe I won’t end up liking it, but maybe I will love it - there is only one way to know for sure.
I have also learned that my trainers were quite right when they said that Hondurans run on their own time. When something is supposed to start at 9:30 am, I would not be surprised if it doesn’t start until after 11am.
On that same note, I have come to terms with the fact that if there is something scheduled, a meeting, a soccer practice, what ever, it is not uncommon for nobody to show up!
I have learned to take most of the advice that I am given from Hondurans with a grain for salt. When I’m told that I shouldn’t drink a lot of water because it will make me gain weight - I just brush it off. It is something they have been thinking their whole life - me telling them they are wrong is not going to change their mind.
Also, I have come to terms with the fact that Hondurans are VERY blunt. They call you by your most prominent feature - if you are bald they will call you baldy, if you are fat, they will call you fatty, if you are white they will call you gringa! So, I am either called gordita or gringa! So, after six months, I’m pretty much used to it. But, when it is someone I have never met and they come up to me, squeeze my arm and say “que gordita,” it is a little hard to restrain myself from wanting to punch that person in the face.
I have also learned that Hondurans have no sense of personal space. They will come to your house and then just sit there. It is very awkward, or I think so anyway. I feel like I need to force conversation because nobody is saying anything. Also, personal space in the sense of my personal bubble. When people meet me and squeeze my arm, that is an invasion of my personal space, but they don’t realize that. And, when you are on a bus that crams on about 50 people more than the maximum capacity, you get parts of people resting on you that you try really hard to ignore!!
CRAZY THINGS I HAVE SEEN
I guess the craziest thing I have seen is when mothers are feeding their infants coffee! You would never see that in the states, and no matter how many times I see it here, it will never be ok.
I actually saw a chicken on one of the chicken buses this week! That was exciting. I thought it was dead at first because the women carried it on by the legs and it looked very limp. But then 10 minutes later I looked over at her and the chicken was sitting on her lap with its eyes open!
A giant spider in the middle of the road was a little hard to handle, but at least it wasn’t in my house.
Yesterday, when I was running, I saw a dog get hit by a car! That is something that can happen in the states, too, but here, nobody thinks twice about it. The driver just kept on going and the rest of the cars that drive by just drive right over it. In the states the driver, hopefully, would have pulled over and called animal patrol.
Something I see everyday is little kids with all their teeth rotting out of their mouth because of all the sugar they eat, and they never brush their teeth. That is just sad to see!
Pigs, roosters, cows, horses, and ducks just roaming the streets looking for food.
Thankfully I have not seen anyone be killed or any dead people!
Today, I have 33 days until I leave for the United States for my sister’s wedding. It is going to be so weird to go back to the states, especially for such a short amount of time. I’m going to go, and then turn around and come right back - it will feel like some weird dream. The culture shock is going to be a little extreme, but hopefully it won’t mess me up to much to the point where I basically have to start all over again when I get back to Honduras!
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