A group of trainees organized a group run for this morning. We all met at El Pollo de Tigre at 8 this morning. I have made a pattern of running every other morning here, but usually by myself or with one other person so a group run sounded fun. All of the guys came (Chris, Peter, Jim, and Ryan) and a number of the girls (Julie, Constance, Natalie, and Yesenia). we decided to run 30 minutes out and all walk back together but that changed when the road ended. Only the main road between all of the citiesis paved, so we stayed on a main back road that goes by a little elementary school, a fair number of houses, and a lot of trees. It was only a little cloudy this morning and in the 60s so we were having a very pleasant run. Twenty minutes into it, right over the top of a hill, the dirt road ended and it was just a mountainside with what looked like government housing. The houses were all numbered and looked like one room houses with outdoor latrines, and there were people all around. None of us are sure what is going on with that development, but we know they have beautiful view of the mountains and valleys.
We all ran/walked back together and decided maybe this would be a Saturday tradition. It was great bonding time, a safe way to exercise, and a fun way to explore the area. Next time I will have to bring my camera with me so I can share some photos. Although pictures will never do it justice. You will just have to come visit.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Going into Week Four
Week 3 was full of classes and guest speakers. Six current volunteers came to talk to us about safety and security and to share any stories they have. We also had two male volunteers come and talk about sports in case anyone is interested in starting or continuing some kind of team at their future site. On Thursday we had two different volunteers talk to us about creative arts, one about dance and theatre, the other about music. That same night we had a presentation for our host families about our Youth Development mission. Two of my fellow trainees, Michelle and Yesenia, put together and gave this presentation in spanish to our host families because they are both native speakers. It went very well and hopefully people hve a better idea of what we are doing in Honduras.
Friday morningwe had a special assignment instead of bein picked up at 7am by Peace Corps staff as normal and being driven to the office. They divided us into three groups of five and we had to take the bus with our groups into Tegucigalpa. From there each group bartered for the cheapest taxi to take them to a designated location where a PC facilitator would meet each group. We had to practice our spanish by going around to different bus stations and asking about the schedules and prices. Our main objective however, was to explore the market, ask about food and prices there, and buy something for our host families with the 30 lempiras they gave us. Mom host mom wanted me to bring home a watermelon. I opted to buy a smaller one because I knew I would have to carry it around with me. Being at the market was a lot of fun but we had to take major precautions. We had to wear casual clothes that fit in and we had to leave all jewelry, even watches, at home. Even with these precautions, a group of gringos (white people) still stick out in the crowd But everyone made it safely through the day and we even got to run acros the street and peek inside the futbol stadium, El Estadio Nacional! We are no allowed to go into the city on our own for another four months, but we are all looking forward to seeing a game! It was a great morning and a great week! I just need to keep studying my spanish!
Friday morningwe had a special assignment instead of bein picked up at 7am by Peace Corps staff as normal and being driven to the office. They divided us into three groups of five and we had to take the bus with our groups into Tegucigalpa. From there each group bartered for the cheapest taxi to take them to a designated location where a PC facilitator would meet each group. We had to practice our spanish by going around to different bus stations and asking about the schedules and prices. Our main objective however, was to explore the market, ask about food and prices there, and buy something for our host families with the 30 lempiras they gave us. Mom host mom wanted me to bring home a watermelon. I opted to buy a smaller one because I knew I would have to carry it around with me. Being at the market was a lot of fun but we had to take major precautions. We had to wear casual clothes that fit in and we had to leave all jewelry, even watches, at home. Even with these precautions, a group of gringos (white people) still stick out in the crowd But everyone made it safely through the day and we even got to run acros the street and peek inside the futbol stadium, El Estadio Nacional! We are no allowed to go into the city on our own for another four months, but we are all looking forward to seeing a game! It was a great morning and a great week! I just need to keep studying my spanish!
Friday, July 22, 2011
Pictures, pictures, pictures!
 |
| My first view of Honduras from the airplane! |
 |
| This is what I saw on my first morning in Honduras from my kitchen door. |
 |
| My bedroom in my house during training. |
 |
| Our kitchen. |
 |
| Living room. |
 |
| Bathroom where we take bucket baths and use a bucket to flush the toilet. |
 |
| My home during 3 months of training. |
 |
| Me and Gimena |
 |
| They have all kinds of giant lizards here. |
 |
| This is a pulperia. Where most people buy their food on a daily basis. |
 |
| Peter holding up the chair made of all recycled materials. |
 |
| The group waiting to talk to the mayor. |
 |
| Animals like to wander around where ever they please so this cow joined us at the school for the afternoon. |
 |
| My host family during training. Gimena with her two children, mother, and brother. |
 |
| They paint the walls here, and sometimes make murals our of bottle caps. |
 |
| Most of the group ready to go zip-lining for Chris' 24th birthday! |
 |
| Me, Peter, and Chris with all our gear! |
Adventures of the first two weeks!
We arrived in Honduras in the middle of the rainy season, so the first thing I regret is not buying waterproof hiking boots. Everyone I talked to before hand said that it will be so hot that I will only wear my sandals. That is not true. Coming from Charleston, this is cold. It is usually in the 60's and sunny in the morning, raining in the afternoon and night. It is also very mountainous, so it is always cold at night, but very beautiful. I have been trying to run every other morning before class. There is so much less oxygen here than in Charleston that it hurts a lot to breathe, so I don't even try to run every day. But usually a few people in the group are willing to play some soccer or basketball after classes, or go for walks.
My host mother, Gimena, also said she would like to go for walks, maybe every Sunday afternoon if it is not raining too hard. She is 21 years old, with two children. Marcela will be 3 in August and Andres is about 1 and a half. Gimena's mother and 15 year old brother Samuel live right near by so they are over a lot. I love when Samuel comes over because he talks to me the most, which helps my Spanish. He is very interested in my music and pictures and will listen to stories and help me with homework. If I can figure out how to put up pictures and videos, I could add a video of him break dancing! He is pretty good and loves to play American music, his favorite song seems to be Walk It Out! I also got him hooked on Hootie and the Blowfish, so I am constantly explaining what those lyrics mean in spanish!
Last Sunday was the first birthday of a group member. Chris turned 24 so I got poster board from the PC office and made him a giant card that everyone signed as a surprise. We also surprised him with a cake and going out to pizza in a little town close by where we all live. Before we had that birthday celebration, we went zip-lining in the canopy of the mountains! It was my first time zip-lining and it was so fun! We were way in the tops of the trees and had great views of the mountains. That was a very fun day. Tomorrow we have plans to go see Harry Potter (in English!) and go to WalMart! We are not allowed to travel outside of our little town alone, so we convinced the PC staff members to get permission to come pick us up, drive us the hour into the capital city, watch the movie with us, and bring us home! We are all excited to go to Walmart simply for the American experience. I for one am going to buy all the chocolate in the store; I am already known in the group as the chocoholic.
Then Sunday should be laundry day. Laundry is interesting... We have to do it by hand of course, using the water in the pila outside. So there is a giant cement basin called a pila that collects water, and it has a slab of concrete on the side with a drain to the ground where we wash dishes and clothes. I have only done laundry once, but it definitely gives my arm a work out. Showering is also an experience. We collect water in big barrels and bring them inside to the bathroom, which has a hole in the concrete floor for the water to drain in. We then use a smaller bucket to pour water on ourselves. That is showering. It is freezing cold, but everyone else in my group said I should heat water on the stove first and mix it, so I am going to start doing that. I got a cold last week, and I honestly think it is from pouring freezing water over my head. And the toilets don't have a flush, so we have to fill a bucket and aim just right in the toilet in order for it to flush. Quite an adventure! But I came to the country with no expectations, so this is all fine with me! I'm having a great time so far!
We are broken up into different levels for Spanish classes, and seeing as I don't know much Spanish, I am in the lowest group (but not the lowest level!) They have Novice, Intermediate, Advanced and Superior. Then in each of those levels is Low, Mid, and High. I am Novice-High with two other guys, and we are learning fast! We are not allowed to speak English in the class, and honestly, it is a ton of fun. Spanish classes are the best part of my week. We have them Mon-Thurs 8am-12pm. Then we take an hour break for lunch, go home and eat. Then we all return to the center of town to have technical classes, like safety and security. There are 15 people in my group and we are all together for the afternoon part. Then on Fridays the staff picks us up and drives us into the capital city Tegucigalpa where PC Headquarters is located, and we have other technical classes and guest speakers all day here. That is why I am only able to access internet on Fridays when I am at the office, because I have no internet in my house. We will only be living with these families for the first 3 months of training, until September 22. Then we move out to our real location with a new family for the next two years. They say we can buy a modem with an internet plan, but it is not worth doing that right now, since the best internet in this location might not be the best internet in our next location. Too expensive to be buying different modems.
My host mother, Gimena, also said she would like to go for walks, maybe every Sunday afternoon if it is not raining too hard. She is 21 years old, with two children. Marcela will be 3 in August and Andres is about 1 and a half. Gimena's mother and 15 year old brother Samuel live right near by so they are over a lot. I love when Samuel comes over because he talks to me the most, which helps my Spanish. He is very interested in my music and pictures and will listen to stories and help me with homework. If I can figure out how to put up pictures and videos, I could add a video of him break dancing! He is pretty good and loves to play American music, his favorite song seems to be Walk It Out! I also got him hooked on Hootie and the Blowfish, so I am constantly explaining what those lyrics mean in spanish!
Last Sunday was the first birthday of a group member. Chris turned 24 so I got poster board from the PC office and made him a giant card that everyone signed as a surprise. We also surprised him with a cake and going out to pizza in a little town close by where we all live. Before we had that birthday celebration, we went zip-lining in the canopy of the mountains! It was my first time zip-lining and it was so fun! We were way in the tops of the trees and had great views of the mountains. That was a very fun day. Tomorrow we have plans to go see Harry Potter (in English!) and go to WalMart! We are not allowed to travel outside of our little town alone, so we convinced the PC staff members to get permission to come pick us up, drive us the hour into the capital city, watch the movie with us, and bring us home! We are all excited to go to Walmart simply for the American experience. I for one am going to buy all the chocolate in the store; I am already known in the group as the chocoholic.
Then Sunday should be laundry day. Laundry is interesting... We have to do it by hand of course, using the water in the pila outside. So there is a giant cement basin called a pila that collects water, and it has a slab of concrete on the side with a drain to the ground where we wash dishes and clothes. I have only done laundry once, but it definitely gives my arm a work out. Showering is also an experience. We collect water in big barrels and bring them inside to the bathroom, which has a hole in the concrete floor for the water to drain in. We then use a smaller bucket to pour water on ourselves. That is showering. It is freezing cold, but everyone else in my group said I should heat water on the stove first and mix it, so I am going to start doing that. I got a cold last week, and I honestly think it is from pouring freezing water over my head. And the toilets don't have a flush, so we have to fill a bucket and aim just right in the toilet in order for it to flush. Quite an adventure! But I came to the country with no expectations, so this is all fine with me! I'm having a great time so far!
We are broken up into different levels for Spanish classes, and seeing as I don't know much Spanish, I am in the lowest group (but not the lowest level!) They have Novice, Intermediate, Advanced and Superior. Then in each of those levels is Low, Mid, and High. I am Novice-High with two other guys, and we are learning fast! We are not allowed to speak English in the class, and honestly, it is a ton of fun. Spanish classes are the best part of my week. We have them Mon-Thurs 8am-12pm. Then we take an hour break for lunch, go home and eat. Then we all return to the center of town to have technical classes, like safety and security. There are 15 people in my group and we are all together for the afternoon part. Then on Fridays the staff picks us up and drives us into the capital city Tegucigalpa where PC Headquarters is located, and we have other technical classes and guest speakers all day here. That is why I am only able to access internet on Fridays when I am at the office, because I have no internet in my house. We will only be living with these families for the first 3 months of training, until September 22. Then we move out to our real location with a new family for the next two years. They say we can buy a modem with an internet plan, but it is not worth doing that right now, since the best internet in this location might not be the best internet in our next location. Too expensive to be buying different modems.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)