Only in Honduras.....

I love these moments.  Only in Honduras will your students celebrate your birthday 20 days after the fact.  One of the groups at the Normal had a piñata waiting for me yesterday morning.  They spent the last two week in their practica (practice) in community preschools.  Plus, since I haven't been going as often, yesterday we finally coincided. I'll ask them for the pics later.

I took the day off on my actual bday.  I spent the day spoiling myself with my favorites in the capital city.  This included a Denny's breakfast, shopping at the mall, enjoy a cafecito while reading a great book in the plaza, and ending with a sushi dinner.  Later that week, my TEAM (English class) students had a birthday surprise waiting for me in class, a huge cake, gifts, plus having them all sing the birthday song in English & Spanish.  At the end of the week, after a committee meeting, the girls from the hogar plus Mary & other staff members had a surprise of their own.  The girls had each made me a little gift out of the recycled materials they work with.  Each of the girls wrote me a letter thanking me for being a part of their life.  The staff members made me a slideshow of pictures and phrases/quotes.  It wouldn't be a Honduran celebration without a cake, they had a pastel de tres leches (sweet milk cake) for everyone.  I felt very special having so many different people show their appreciation for me all week.  

Prior to my birthday, I'd spent the week with my fellow Youthies in Valle for our last IST (In Service Training).  The topic was career development and the director had many organizations join us.  One of the groups served as our facilitators teaching us a ton of new dinamicas and team building ideas.  The group had mentioned creating a video to enter the Peace Corps Third Goal competition.  That's all that needed to get said to have the entire group work together in creating a rap music video on the use of condoms.  Before you knew it, we had a video director, music editor (yours truly), dance choreographer, costume designer, song composer, singer, dancers, etc.  It was so much fun I wish we had started this idea in prior ISTs.   We plan to soon post it on YouTube and become famous. LOL

Much of the group stayed a night in Teguz. I invited Mary and her sister to join.  We watched Fast & the Furious 5, had dinner and went out dancing.  The girls had a ton of fun!  I think it was their first time out to a nightclub in the capital.  Creo que he despertado una nueva pasion en Mary. (I think I sparked a new passion in Mary.) I invited her out dancing this past weekend for her birthday and again she agreed. :)  I'm glad we've been bonding more, she's a very special person and I hope we can continue to learn a lot from each other.  

My observations are going well.  I'm trying to finish everything this month & have jammed packed my calendar.  All in all, teachers mostly struggle with classroom management.  Some of them could be a lot stricter in their expectations of the kids' behaviors.  This is especially true in the most marginalized communities as the children need a lot of guidance.  

Next week is a school holiday, celebrating Student Week.  Plus, I'll be taking a week off in late June to visit a friend in El Salvador.  I'm very excited for this trip.  It will be really special to connect with someone from home since I probably won't be going back this year.  

I'm about 20 days away from my one year in country anniversary.  How time goes by.  The more days that pass, the more I want to extend my service here.  It makes me very happy knowing I am content with my work here and see myself growing even more from it.  However, my parents would be heartbroken if I extended.

Life.

   

This picture is the inspiration I needed to be motivated to post.  Time keeps passing and I was beginning to lose myself it in....losing track of why I am here...why I enjoy serving......and why I applied in the first place.

I had a similar reflexion in middle school when a good friend  passed.  She was full of energy and loved the quote "carpe diem".  I remember thinking that I would honor my friend, and those whose life were taken without a just cause, by living my life to the fullest.

Sometimes I find myself confused in this PC experience.  Doubts run in and out of my head, questions pop up often, and answers seem to be idealistic.

But this message reminds me that it's ok to be confused....  What is most important is that I am doing what I love...what I dreamed of...what is my passion...what opens me up to new experiences..what challenges my ideas to form new ones.  It reminds that this experience is more about the people and the shared experiences we now have....that sometimes success doesn't need to be measured....sometimes what we need most is to LIVE.  

Life is short.  This experience it turning out to be short.  My 27 months of service have been reduced to 16.  For a long time, I was looking for my niche in site...I'm still not sure if I have found it, but I am clear on one thing.....I have found a new place to call home.

My work here continues to grow and with this comes the formation of many more relationships.  Some relationships are simple...."bye teacher" is what I'll hear when passing in the halls or running into each other in town....other relationships are complex...leaving unanswered questions and tears after they decide to runaway, probably to never see them again.  In one way or another, all of these relationships have given me a new found sense of belonging.  PC calls it "community integration" but I come to find this connections is deeper than the phrase embodies.

For many PCVs, this sense of belonging will give them the inspiration that gets lost in the "PC roller coaster".  For me, this sense of belonging brings a new sense of urgency to the work that I do.  The faces of the people I work with/for, bring a sense of determination.  Beyond it all, it is the possibility of creating bigger/better things together that give me the energy to continue challenging myself in this experience.

So what has been my experience in the last month or so?  The closings of schools, for the (finally over teacher strike), gave me the time to help out with a dental brigade from the Univ. of Conn.  I was able to help run logistics (bc you know I love this sort of thing ;P ) and show the team of 22 around town.  They worked hard and saw over 300 students/family members from the community, worked on ~100 patients, took out more teeth than I ever imagined and filled as many cavities as they could handle.  The population they worked on included people from the mountain side (that walked over 3 hours to the center), students from a newly build tuition-free bilingual university, special needs students from a local orphanage, and perhaps some of the neediest from our community.

My TEAM class of 40+ teachers continues strong.  Their attendance was still at 100% even during some of the toughest days of the strikes.  I am so proud of this group of teachers for their dedication to our class.  I wish I could share their animal "longest-book-ever" projects....they are awesome!

My work with the Casa Hogar girls continues.  Our most recent loss, just this past Tuesday, was the running away of one of the girls.  She arrived at the Casa Hogar after having some rough moments at a local orphanage.  She's full of energy, very creative, and can express herself beautifully.  Lately, she had been speaking up about not fitting in with the other girls.  She's always had a strong independent side.  She expressed her concerns and wishes to the director and admin personnel the night before.  No one ever expected her to run away.  This experience is another that helped me realize one reason for why I am here....to help bring hope to the youth that have lost it...to help them realize that they have positive choices in their life....and people that want to support them in making these decisions.

Work at the ENCA is back in session....the students had two weeks of instruction prior to Spring Break and are in a week of instruction now.  Their midterm exams are next week.  In short, teachers are trying to have students cram over a month of content before the exam.  How anyone justifies this is unclear to me.

My work with the after school program at the local orphanage is taking a turn.  The orphanage is largely funded through donors from the States.  The economic situation back home is negatively impacting the donations received locally.  In addition, the local government recently passed new labor laws raising the minimum wages.  The director was forced to cut back on personnel and has asked the teachers of the after school program to convert to part-time employees.  In short, this will mean they lose their unemployment insurance and take a small pay cut.  I am hopeful most of the teachers will remain on board.

Earlier I mentioned Spring Break, which is actually Semana Santa (Holy Week) here.  My site is considered the most religious in the country and is considered one of the most cultural too.  Combine these two elements and you get a week full of religious processions and services.  The city was filled with tourists Thurs.-Sat. for the making/viewing of the "alfombras" (carpets made of colored sawdust depicting mostly religious images).

I hosted most of the H17 Youth Development volunteers...they came and went throughout the week...at most we had 10 people sleeping in my studio apartment.  We ended up spending a day at the pool of a local hotel, taking a day trip to the Pulhapanzak waterfall (the largest of Honduras), lounging around town, checking out the VERY crowded waterpark, and checking out the processions/alfombras.

I was one of the most interested in the city's religious/cultural activities (a bit disappointing).  The alfombra making started Holy Thursday after the 10pm procession with the reenactment of the "encuentro" (meeting).  Only three of us tried staying up all night to watch the alfombras come to life....we ended up walking a bit, popping into the club and dancing a bit, then continuing down the alfombra path.  The whole group was back out the next morning to check out the completed alfombras....again only three of us were interested in walking along with the procession.  We stuck it through and participated in the trampling over the alfombras...you see the whole purpose for creating an alfombra is so that the procession can walk over it, bless the sawdust that was used, and bringing the creators "bondad" (goodness) the rest of the year.  One of my favorite moments from the procession was when a boy gave me his collection of colored sawdust he was saving in a small glass jar.  I made small talk and mentioned that I was going to start my own collection.  We ran into each other later...and to my surprise he offered me his collection.  I tried denying it at first because I knew he was probably hoping to take it home for good luck...but he insisted.  What a sweetheart!

These are the stories that keep me here...

So what made me serve in the first place.  My parents taught me to work hard at helping others who are less fortunate.  I remember dreaming of joining the Peace Corps as a little girl.  I think I first heard about the program from a friend.  I knew I wanted to help others and add my bit to world development.  I started my first application to PC my senior year in college.  At the same time, I started my application to Teach For America.  I decided to go into teaching first because I knew I would be a more competitive applicant with a refined skill.  Plus, I had promised myself to dedicate part of my life to teaching in honor of the great teachers in my life.  I decided to push back the PC application.  After completing my TFA service, I stayed an extra year in hopes of completing my credential; however, things got complicated and I was laid off twice. As a result, I was unemployed for 6 months where I had plenty of time to reflect on my next path in life.  PC was calling me...lol.  I finished my application and within days I had my potential assignment.  A few months later, I was arriving in Honduras as a Youth Development volunteer.  :)

We had two really great weeks with the students at the end of February.  The profe and I co-taught.  We planned some exciting lessons for our English methodology course, including a short video compilation on second language teaching methodologies.  I was just getting into a rhythm of things when our March in-service training came up.

A one-week training on our abstinence, teen pregnancy prevention health program.  We were set up in Valle de Angeles at the same hotel.  It is always great getting together with the rest the project group.  The training facilitators did an awesome job.  The workshops ran smoothly and I stepped away with a ton of new ideas.  The discussion were very motivating because the counterparts played a huge part in this.  I invited Mary from my church counterpart and her participation got great compliments from other volunteers.  I'm really excited to be working closer with her, she'll be helping me facilitate the Yo Merezco group. We ended up hanging out with the counterparts a lot more this second time around.  I made some new friendships and really look forward to visiting them in their sites.  We had a really nice groove going when the training came to an end.

Several of us decided to spend a day/night in Teguz.  We ended up having pizza, watching a movie, and going out.  We started out the night at the most interesting "hole-in-the-wall" bar.  Ok, it really wasn't that since it's located in one of the most "fufuru" barrios down the street from the Peace Corps office but it certainly had the attitude of one.  Most people had an alternative style to them.  They were hosting an out of town DJ playing trance/dance music yet kinda had a reggae house feel to it.  We ended up closing the nighat at Sabor Cubano.  I have too much fun dancing salsa!

I took an extra day off and visited my host mom in Talanga. We were really close and always got along.  She had planned the usual Saturday routine from when I was living with her...visit church friends, pupusas in the park, and gossip while having coffee.  I wish I could visit her more often.

I was back home early Sunday and prepped everything for the week of work ahead.  To my HUGE surprise, the students had taken over the school when we arrived.  They were joining the local high school on strike to show solidarity.  I later found out that many large public schools around the country had organized to strike.  The students had designed a leadership committee and by that afternoon representatives for the surrounding high schools were meeting to strategize their next move.  They ended up stopping traffic on the main highway at the edge of town and marched to the main plaza.

As these activities unfolded I got the greatest sense that I was living in some twilight zone.  You see, the summer of my junior year of high school I attended a student leadership institute where I first learned of student demonstrations/walkouts.  I later worked alongside with one of the original Chicano heroes from the 60's Los Angeles high school student demonstrations.  All this time, especially after teaching in one of the  neediest school districts, I had come to accept that student demonstrations would not be a part of my history.  Now, little did I ever expect, that my Peace Corps service would introduce me to one of the most strike-driven education systems.  The students have taken over the school a total of four times in this first month of class and the teachers have had their share of strikes.

I took advantage of my "free time" to hold several meetings.  I was asked to help oversee an after-school program at a local orphanage. It turns out the church leader in the States is a director of a charter school network.  He has a lot of new ideas for the education program at the orphanage.  I will serve as the mediator between him and the program teachers.

My church counterpart asked that I attend the project's support committee meeting.  The Swiss volunteers also joined and somehow we all ended up becoming members of the support committee.  For the time being, we are helping design next year's work plan.  Somehow (because I haven't learned how to say no) I ended up responsible for synthesizing the project's goals/objectives.

Saturday at the proyecto was an exciting one.  Several of the girls from the casa hogar will be acting as tutores and working with the youngest kids.  They had prepped Friday evening and were ready for their first day as "teachers".  I'm really excited for them!  I held a short literacy lesson with the girl from the hogar that doesn't know how to read/write. Also, two boys are now staying at the home, one of which is a usual at the proyecto.  He's been working really hard lately.  He's now going to school daily and teaching himself English.  I was able to tutor him for about an hour.  He's doing really great with the program on his own.  I have to find him some additional resources so that he can expand his vocabulary.

We ended up planning for a week long dental brigade coming up in two weeks.  The proyecto will be hosting a team of 22 from the University of Connecticut.  We thought through all the details and distributed the work load.  I was really proud of my counterpart for taking the time to prepare ahead of time.

I was told that the teachers are still on strike tomorrow.  I'm not sure what to expect, but I can continue to use the "free time" for my other projects.  Since I've returned from my visit home, I keep feeling like I'm in a constant catch-up game.

PS I'm short on pictures because I don't have my camera with me.  Erk!

Back in Honduras...it's been a bumpy start back!

Over a month since my last post.

My trip back home was great.  I love the fact I was excited to see my family and very excited to return to Honduras too.  My trip started with a nice surprise...my friends picked me up at the airport with a welcome home gift.  I spent that first weekend getting spoiled by mom with her home cooked meals...mmm!  I ended up making the family baleadas...let's just say they weren't as excited as I was.  LOL My sister, mom, and I ended up at the salon one morning.  It felt great getting pampered.  My brother, sister, best friend, and I ended out dancing one night....first time the siblings had been out together in years.  In fact, it had been over three years since the whole family had been home together.

After dropping my brother off at the airport, the rest of my family and I drove down to LA for the next weekend.  I tried balancing between hanging out with my family and visiting friends.  I  had way too many delicious meals with great company.  One of my favorite moments was our visit to the LA Griffith Observatory and my Saturday brunch at the Cheesecake Factory.

After my trip, (and after way too many hours of travel), I arrived in Valle de Angeles for PCYD Reconnect.  The workshops were tough to get through the first few days.  We had seen a lot of the same material during training.  We later understood those days were focused on our counterparts.  I loved watching my counterpart come alive in discussions.  She is definitely going places.  The YD group had a lot of catching up moments.  Over all, I think most of us were feeling pumped after Reconnect.

I met up with el Profe each day for planning.  Transportation is always a headache to/from my site and my worksite so our days came to an end early.  We worked out a lot of details in our planning but we were left hanging in so many other details.  The school to this day has not held one teacher meeting.  The Secretary of Education released the school calendar last week (2 weeks into the school year).  Our campus admin handed out schedules this past Thursday (mind you they have to be re-done as most of them have major errors).  To top it off, we had two school student take overs in the last two weeks and will have no classes this coming Monday due to the teacher marches.  Yes, just another school year in Honduras.

I did my best to stay positive this past week, but I will admit it was especially hard.  I was feeling down and very unmotivated (which only made me feel worse) with all the work issues.  I almost forget to mention the Safety/Security meeting this past week.  Although I appreciated the staff's efforts to support us, it is never easy to digest the information we receive on volunteer incidents.  I keep reminding myself as we were told in that meeting...we are here because it is tough work.

With that said, I want to end on a positive note.....I am very excited to announce that one of the girls from the hogar...the one with the greatest learning needs, she doesn't know how to read or write....was saying she likes to write after hours of working with her.  Yay! I've decided to focus on her learning needs as my little Saturday morning project.  Day 1: build confianza and generate an interest for learning....CHECK!

My childhood "mentee"...one of the newest PCV trainees (Guyana, 2011-2013)...congrats!

Lesson plans are ready and my bags are packed! I'm ready.

My week of lesson planning and preparing for work was a huge success.  I'm planned through the midterm and found a ton of resources.  I still need to make the rotulos (posters) and models but I'm going to wait for when I am given the materials in early February.

I met with my counterpart and we presented a new action plan for our collaboration.  I'm very happy with his proposal.  He would like to see me get involved with the "senior" project to help promote workshops/events focused on leadership and community involvement.  Perfecto!

We also met with the school director to present him with this new plan.  Plus, we needed to ask for his help finding a physical education professor interested in attending a baseball training in the States.  Turns out the P.E. teacher was not interested.  Lucky for us, the director had served as the P.E. teacher for over 20 years.  He'll be attending the workshop where he'll learn the technical side of baseball in hopes of starting our own school teach to compete in the Annual National Peace Corps Baseball Tournament.  FUN!  

We also met with the representative from the school district.  We finalized the class details.  I will be teaching two groups of 30-40 upper elementary teachers in Comayagua.  She plans on getting us a really nice classroom...air conditioning and LCD projector/screen! 

I helped out with the tutor dinner at the CDI on Saturday.  Yanira and the kids cooked up a feast.  It turns out the pastor invited church members in hopes of generating their interest to become more involved with the CDI.  Yanira presented a PowerPoint presentation while the group and I served dinner.  We were really fancy!  LOL  They had appetizers at the table, soup to start, pasta salad/veggies/chicken for dinner, coffee & cupcakes for desert.  We all had a lot of fun...plus had a lot of great leftovers.  I jumped in several times during the presentation to emphasize some points.  The CDI is in huge need of adult volunteers to help supervise and manage some of the extra-curricular activities.  I'm considering inviting the students from the Normal to volunteer on Saturdays.  I have a huge list of students that are interested in learning about ways to volunteer and serve the community. =) 

I visited my host mom earlier this week.  We had coffee together...one of my favorites at her house.  Yanira also stopped by for breakfast.  I always have a great time at their house when I visit.  Plus I know that they love to have me over.  I'm going to make a bigger effort to visit them more regularly.  So far, I'm thinking Sunday afternoon for lunch.  I think it would be fun to take turns cooking.  My host mom loved the idea.  I'll have to work in a free sugar free deserts for don Porfis (my host dad).  

As I said earlier, I'm packed and ready for my visit to the States.  I leave this Friday and return Monday the 24th in time for our training workshop and Reconnect with the Youth Development group.  We'll all be back in our first site...Valle de Angeles.  It's so beautiful out there....so many reasons to look forward to this trip.  I am very excited to catch up with the H17-YD familia.  

Sorry no pictures for now...I'll add them soon, promise!

For time and the world do not stand still. Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future. John F. Kennedy

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!  I hope everyone is enjoying this holiday season! 

I wish I could share all the pics.  I would go over my internet limit so you’re going to have to read about it.  :D

  

The reparto de regales (gift giving) at the proyecto was a success.  We got positive feedback on how much more organized it was (how could I resist).  And, if you know me, you’ll know that I am already thinking of how to improve for next year as I would have worked out a few kinks.  I had a lot of fun helping out...check us out below.

I’ll be honest….I was a little sad waking up on Christmas eve.  It took a phone call to snap me back into reality….as I was told, if I plan to continue a life abroad I will need to be comfortable with spending Christmas (& other holidays) in different ways. 

I spent Christmas eve with my host family and counterpart’s family.  Three of the girls from the casa hogar joined us.  I made an apple, pear, cranberry crisp for the dinner (mmm!).  BTW, I had a Salvadorian dinner (my host family is half Salvadorian) for my Christmas in Honduras….a huge Chicken sub. =) Like I said, it’s best if I get used to spending my holidays in a different way. 

Christmas day I was in Lamani, a friend’s site nearby, for their toreada.  The tiny picturesque town can been transformed with the magnitudes of traffic, people, and french fries stands…LOL.  As it turns out there are actually two bull fighting stadiums, a smaller one that belongs to the municipality (all funds go to the local government) and a “monumental” one that belongs to the association of ranchers (all funds go to their projects?).  As I sat watching the show, I was stuck in some kind of déjà vu because I was feeling as though I was in Mexico with my familia, a feeling I was longing for the previous day. 

I ended up in Teguz for a PC doctors visit on Monday.  I took advantage of the trip to enjoy brunch at Denny’s (opened a few months back).  They didn’t have French toast that I was craving but the waiter made up for it by bringing out a ton of free breakfast favorites with my Grand Slam meal.  Of course, how could I leave the capital without topping it off with a visit to the Multi Plaza mall….and yup, one of my favorites…sushi! 

I returned to site in time for the cultural meeting.  The ladies had made huge advances on the New Year’s eve celebration.  We were all getting really excited about it.  I had an early New Year’s eve dinner with my sitemate Andrea….yummy pasta with salad…plus a double tomato bruschetta I made and torrejas from our tia China. 

The park was looking amazing when I showed up.  My coworker’s daughter and I were in charge of the VIP lounge greeting the artists.  The ladies from the committee were waiting their grand entrance dressed up in costume representing the traditional Comayaguense dress.  The show was a huge success and televised internationally.  I was told I appear smiling at the camera while dancing.  

The actual campanadas at midnight was a beautiful experience….ringing church bells, flying fireworks, blaring music, screaming people, and the confetti bazooka! 

A surprise visit stayed the night Sunday.  A group of volunteers (10 people total) was on their way back to site from New Year’s in the north coast.  I wish I had a picture of the sleeping arrangements! LOL  We can work wonders in my little studio so long as everyone is considerate and organized with their stuff. 

Bueno, this week has started off strong.  I’ll be sitting at the laptop lesson planning in preparation for my upcoming visit to the States.  It’s hard to believe that my trip is just around the corner.  SO EXCITED!

Ok, really, have I outdone myself again...

....only so you would be more excited for my next post....did it work? LOL

I helped represent the girls in the US Embassy's Artisan Fair.  It was a great event.  Way more vendors than we were expecting.... I'm really glad that volunteers put on an event like this.  It was a huge motivator for the girls to know their work would be showcased at the US Embassy....more so when I told them the US Ambassador stopped by the booth and loved the pieces.  (No pic becauase no cameras were allowed.)  

The next morning we were off to San Pedro Sula (SPS) in search for ~350 gifts.  Yeah, the proyecto purchases every participant a Christmas gift...(The proyecto, Center for Integral Development is under an umbrella organization, Compassion, a Christian child sponsorship ministry.)  The proyecto has worked out a deal with a clothing vendor, Don Elias y Dona Margarita, a Palestinian-Honduran couple.





Don Elias taught me some Arabic dancing.  I was told he stopped playing this type of music in the store after his daughter passed.  I was honored.  They invited us over to their house....a beautiful mansion with an amazing back yard including an alter to the virgencita.  They are definitely a special couple and I hope to be visiting them soon.  

We were back at the proyecto in time for the preparations of the wedding on Saturday.  During one of our breaks, the girls asked if I knew how to dance....of course I responded that I would love to teach them.  Lots of fun!  Some of them had little to any rhythm and I was reminded that most of these girls have had a rough childhood.  They very rarely have time to be a silly kid where maybe they would be playing music and dancing for fun.  I will definitely be making for time for dance "lessons".  

I was really curious what a boda evangelica would be like.  The bride was the proyecto's cosmetology taller instructor.  The wedding was a church effort...most everything was donated.  The proyecto was helping with the decorations.  Yanira is very creative and the salon looked rally nice.  The original wedding bouquet wasn't going to be ready on time so I go to make the bride's bouquet.  Some of the girls helped out...what do you think, can we make it as florists? 

I ended up out at the feria that Saturday night. The event was a bit different than I expected.  For one, feria here means two major event areas...one sponsored by the Camara de Comercio (Chamber of Commerce) and the other by los Ganadores (Ranchers)....plus, you have some traditional events at the park...like the opening/closing night, the queen coronation, and a few other sponsored concerts....and finally, you have a ton of block parties in various neighborhoods all trying to prove their music/firecrackers are the loudest.

We took the girls out Sunday night...giant baleadas at La Princesita & dancing at the central park.  They got to try out their new dance moves...lol.  They loved the Christmas tree and took a million pics.  I love seeing them happy & just be kids.  So many times we forget that some children simply don't have a "traditional" childhood.

Please keep in mind those less fortunate in this holiday season....I wish everyone a great Christmas!  

Feliz navidad!