Life is forever changing

I started Saturday in one emotional state...and ended the day in the exact opposite.  They are right about the Peace Corp Roller Coaster.....things change so often out here...and the least expected is what you usually get....so I do my best to deal with it....because as a friend wrote on his blog...life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it. Who better to learn this lesson from than mi amigo Pedrito.

Pedro and his family lived in a shack over in one of the most caliente (dangerous) parts of town.  Last week, his dad gave his family (mom, grandma, younger brother, and two younger sisters) a small plot of land (dad doesn't live with them).  Turns out a group of people invaded public lands and "squatted" taking control of the property.  After some legal actions the squatters gain ownership.  So, there we have Pedrito and his family building a house out of scraps of wood, random objects, sheets of tin...on the inside you find two full size beds and not much else. Their stove is an empty barrel placed upside down with a hole cutout. Plus, it turns out the two teenage boys are the ones providing for the family.

Life is so amazing....when I needed some reassurance, I'm presented with Pedrito's uplifting story.  Something these "outrageous" situations are so "normal" for them...and yet for me they are a part of a completely other I am familiar with.  But just as Pedrito's family took what life presented them and did the best they could....I will remind myself to do the same.  Think positive.

One of Honduras' treasures....

I was fortunate to see one of Honduras beautiful tourist attractions....Pulhapenzak waterfalls...que tranquilo. The weather made for some amazing views of the mountains...I'll guess it was cloud forest because at one time the mountain tops disappeared. This also meant that we got to enjoy the sites to ourselves. The park itself is a bit small but the view of the waterfall is perfect. Beware of the slippery walkways...notice the different outfits...lol. We ended up jumping in the water despite the chilly weather...sure enough the water was ice cold! The drive was beautiful....surrounded by green, luscious mountains...passing little picturesque towns. We also drove around most of el Lago de Yojoa.

Driving through Honduras can make it tough given the extreme poverty most people live in. About 60% of the almost 8 million people in the country live below the poverty line....with 6/18 departamentos in extreme poverty. Given my placement, if I allow it, I can easily escape the realities of most Hondurans. I think this will be one of my challenges while serving since Comayagua is one of the most beautiful cities.

For example, today the US Embassy along with the Instituto Hondureno de Cultura Interamericana hosted a jazz concert in the central park....what an evening! Listened to great music all while facing the fairytale catedral and sipping my cappuccino. See what I mean about getting lost in this amazing city. I met some awesome contacts from the Embassy and hope to soon be collaborating with the IHCI to develop their English coursework and cultural events.

A new awakening...at Nuevo Amanecer!

Excellent teaching taking place at the bilingual escuela Nuevo Amanecer! It was an inspiring experience to watch those kids come alive in class. The school was started by a Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos volunteer from Switzerland twenty years ago. They started with a casa hogar (orphanage)..then added a school...eventually closed the casa hogar...and grew the school. Now they run a colegio (7th - 12th grades) and a bilingual school (pre-k - 4th). Walking through the facilities and watching those teachers in action gives me hope that working with our teachers can produce that level of quality in the students of Honduras. The school runs a dairy farm to help pay the bills. While I was touring the campus...(which btw I had already visited during training when we gave a HIV charla)....I ran into my Talanga host "niece".

I just got back from watching the 1st annual Colonial Comayagua Ballet Folklorico contest for the primary schools. The kids were too cute! Plus standing before the catedral to watch the show was amazing....! Not to mention they had a torrito de cohetes (bull of fireworks)...yes, I couldn't believe it!

OMG number 2....a snake in my office!

No way....a snake in my office! Yes, a student went to slip his homework under my door, looked up and there it was. He killed it as it was trying to crawl in through the window. Errk!

Class canceled....why? The students planned a demonstration against the land squatters invading the school territory. Local authorities are not reacting to the problem nor show interest in doing so anytime soon. So the students (with the administration's leadership) decided to take the streets in hopes of raising awareness to their concern. I couldn't participate (PC policy) but they had a huge group of students & staff.

I had an interesting weekend. The usual routine on Saturday, hand out at the proyecto. One of the girls volunteered to clean the office so together we set out to organize it a bit better. The work has to continue but I hope this will be the start of a total transformation towards effectiveness. I volunteered to “babysit” the casa hogar. I want to start gaining confianza with them since I plan to start a Yo Merezco session soon. Yo Merezco is a program aimed at female teen empowerment guided by abstinence. Most of the group loved having me. Two of the girls were a bit more reserved (mostly in their room) but participated in the group activities. I took them out to the mall..(like my modeling)...at the park....(forgot my camera)...and we hung out at the house..(again they wanted to model). I invited them to La Princesita but it cost me a couple days worth of allowance...so this won't be repeating often...boo!

My official apt search has begun. Well actually lots of students have been helping the last two weeks. It's so cute how I get random students come up to me and mention where they've seen apt for rent signs. I spent most of Thurs walking around town looking and found some excellent choices. My favorite is over my budget (2500 Lempiras = $131 per month). It's located really close to a beautiful church and the main mall (with an Expresso Americano...jejeje).

Anna was in town Thursday and Friday for a workshop. I showed up under-dressed on Thurs and only stayed a bit. The presentation was on Special Ed and very interesting to see the teachers' participation. It was also really interesting to see how they defined the different terms. Plus this served as an awesome networking opportunity.

I spent all day at the proyecto. One of the girls and I were cleaning out the office. The place needs a lot of organization. The girls are doing some amazing work with the can tops. I was given a headband that is awesome looking...plus it's bright yellow to top it off. =)

BTW, some things are just hard to understand. We went to pick up one of the girls and the grandma starts talking about how she doesn't know what to do with her other granddaughter....claiming the girl left the house, not attending school, and is now living with a friend....the granddaughter is only 12!! I don't understand it.

PS We had 14 people in the car....3 in the front, 7 in the middle, and 4 in the back...that's not the record either.

Work just got an extra twist to it.

I'll now be helping with the computer course for the first year students. Their current teacher has been on leave due to family illness since I arrived. They don't have a substitute system in place which means the students would go the rest of the year without class. So guess who volunteered to step in. =)

The TEAM 1 course had a rough start last week. Only half the group showed up last Monday. Tuesday the school had a uniform check. Despite a warning, we only had about 250/1000 in proper uniform and in class...the rest were sent home! This meant my TEAM class had only 4 students. Otherwise, I'm really enjoying prepping for this course and having fun making the materials.

I haven't been running because I caught some kind of cough. I was kinda bad Fri./Sat. Not too mention it's been chilly which means I'd have to take two cold showers per day...no thanks!

I headed out to visit Anna in Lamani last Thursday. She lives in a completely adorable little town...postcard like. I got to see the town sites...bibiloteca that needs a lot of help, centro de salud doing great community work, and the colegio that seems to be a busy place.

I also visited San Jeronimo on Saturday. One of my students invited to the toreada (rodeo) taking place because of the pueblo's feria (town's fair). I met up with Amie since everything was running late. Her house is beautiful! I'm so jealous...I haven't found an apt but I know I won't get anything close to that for 1500 Lps in town. =/

Sunday was an interesting day. It's trimester letter writing time and they were behind on their work. So my counterpart set off in search for the students. We drove through some of the roughest parts of town stopping every block or so to drop off letters that needed to be completed. Back at the proyecto there was another headache.

The oldest girls from the casa hogar have been attracting the wrong crowd of boys. They called the police a few days back but of course that didn't stop them...they later showed up with their gang and threatened all the girls. These two girls keep claiming they'll behave but they need a lot of help. One of the girls was forced by her uncle to work in a bar at a young age (she's only 15 now!). She was to satisfy the customers sexual desires and if she didn't comply, she was beat...her back is covered with scars. I still don't have confianza with these girls but I do plan to start a Yo Merezco group (girl empowering curriculum).