Tuesday, May 27, 2008

5.24.08 Body Issues Part II…but I heart frijoles

I was feeling pretty excited, and quite frankly a bit of pride at the fact that I had not had any serious stomach issues since arriving in country. Especially considering the ill fate of some of my fellow PCV’s and my willingness to eat pretty much anything here. That luck ran out about 2 weeks ago.

I won’t go into the gory details but lets just say many days passed without anything ‘solid’ and an awful lot of ‘knives in my gut’ stomach pains. It was shitty [pun intended, sorry Mom!] I talked to the Doctor at the health center and she informed me that I had amoebas crawling around in my stomach. She gave me some pills and things have been calm every since…-knocks on wood-

Surprisingly, my body is pretty happy. Fungus, bug bites and diarrhea are all at bay for the moment. Let’s hope it stays that way!

Somehow the weekend managed to creep up on me again. This must be a sign that time is going by quickly here. It reminds me that I must absorb and appreciate every moment that I have here because I am sure that with a blink of my eyes, these 2 years are going to be over, sadly. There are many mornings still where I wake up and think to myself ‘Wow…I am living in Honduras as a PCV…’ almost like it’s a dream.

Things are macanudo as always…this week was filled with finishing the vaccine campaign [yay!], playing with the kids at the Nutritional Center, seeing my future house [one word: amazing!], and a visit from my project manager, Helmuth. It was good for him to see me in my environment and he had great things to say about me integrating and the work I am doing.

I got to catch up with Joel last night which was awesome. Today I learned how to cook beans Honduran style and ate delicious baleadas with guacamole for dinner. Yes, be jealous because that’s right, my life rocks. =)

Friday, May 16, 2008

5.16.08 Friday Already?!?!

Peace Corps seems to spend a decent amount of time reminding all the future volunteers how difficult it is when you first get to site. They talk about how you need to be patient and integrate into your community and that things will probably be pretty slow and quite possibly boring at first. You need to just stick it out and realize that it takes time to integrate and get projects started. I had mentally prepared myself to spend a lot of time reading, journaling and integrating.

Well maybe it’s a fluke, but I have been so busy these past 2 weeks. The days have gone by so fast, I can’t believe that it is Friday. A run down of the week included:

-A trip to the Bilingual school and the Nutritional Center on Tuesday. I got to help teach kids English in the morning and then play with babies in the afternoon. It was a wonderful day. (Since when do I love kids so much? Creepy!) By the time I left the school in the morning, all the kids were yelling my name and giving me hugs. And I absolutely fell in love with one of the boys at the Nutritional Center, I call him mi principe. It was definitely my favorite day this week.

-I spent Wednesday morning in the back of a pick up truck as we climbed up into the mountains to the village of La Laguna to vaccinate kids. I also ate the –most delicious- eggs, beans, rice and tortillas ever. Every day I am amazed at the hospitality of the people here, it is so beautiful. Then we went to Las Minitas to relax in the water. I got in for free because I went there so much last week. That –is- a good thing, right? Haha. I also ate a total of 9 tortillas that day. A new record for me.

-Thursday I was at WorldVision all day helping the librarian, Wilda. I translated some suggestions about how to start and run a library for her. And then I started on an inventory of the books. She is the sweetest woman I have ever met and I am so blessed to call her not only my co-worker, but also my friend. We are supposed to plan some charlas for the beauty school in town. I want to take her with me to the Abstinence Workshop we have in June. Then last night I had a meeting with the committee that is planning the marathon (fundraiser) for the nutritional center, which is going to be June 22nd. I am really excited to be a part of the planning, it makes me feel like I am really helping. I also made friends with some more locals, which is always awesome.

-That all brings me to today, where somehow it is already noon (I actually got to sleep in today, it was wonderful.) I am going to do some yoga, go eat lunch at my favorite comedor, stop by and Internet, and spend the rest of the afternoon relaxing in the hammock. I think I deserve it. :)

Monday, May 12, 2008

5.12.08 Skin Attacks

So, I love Honduras…but my body certainly does not. My legs are covered in interesting red bumps and bites, some from mosquitoes, the rest have unknown origins. I have also developed this strange rash like bumps on my feets…again, origin unknown. And of course, I sweat constantly.

At least I am getting a good tan :)

I am supposed to go see the house I get to move into in 2 months tonight, I am excited!!

5.11.08 Turning Catracha

I think I am starting to morph into a true Honduran (or Catracha as they are called here.) Some examples include:

-craving tortillas with every meal and being disappointed if there aren’t any
-falling asleep in the hammock multiple times
-riding in the back of a pick-up truck
-going to the bañeros (outdoor swimming pool) every day for the past 4 days
-pointing at things using my lips
-dancing merengue and punta until 2 in the morning

Emelina mentioned to me the other day that I adapt to new situations and take on local customs easily. I would definitely agree with that…and my actions seem to prove it even more. Haha.

I can’t believe that it is Sunday night already…the weekend went by way too fast. I think I forgot to mention in my entry about my visit here that I was basically adopted by Reina, a nurse who works as the health center, and her entire family. They are so incredibly sweet and I am so blessed to have them take such good care of me. They took me to these outdoor swimming pools that are in the mountains outside of Negrito during my visit and we ate carne asada, frijoles, tortillas and swam. It was so much fun. I felt so loved and a part of the family, it was wonderful.

So Friday afternoon after spending all day melting in the heat and vaccinating kids, Reina, her daughter Karla and some other friends went to the bañeros again. That night, La Gran Banda from San Pedro was in town to play at El Club in town. (Note: given the fact that both mine and Emelina’s counterparts were there, I would say that it was more than appropriate that she and I went.) The band was really awesome, they played a mix of reggaeton, bachata, merengue, salsa, and punta (the Honduran national dance that involves shaking your hips furiously.) I got to dance a lot and meet some people, overall it was a great night.

Saturday, Emelina, Karla and I took a trip to El Progreso which last almost all day. Swimming again in the afternoon knocked me out for the rest of the night. I have some lovely phone calls, which included talking to Grandpa Catalano at his 80th birthday celebration, Nikki, and my dad. Paul and I have a very lengthy convo too, which was great.

Today is Mother’s Day which I was a bit sad about, given that I didn’t get to spend it with my mom. However, Reina and her family invited me over and we spent the day together, eating, swimming and just relaxing. I had a wonderful time as always. There were so many kids there, they were all calling my name and wanted me to play with them. Also, one of Reina’s nieces lives in Tela and invited me up there for a weekend sometime. Woohoo!

Oh yeah…so I swear I am working too. Life as a PCV isn’t all fun and games…this week should be busy. More vaccines, meeting school directors, planning a curriculum for the girls school, as well as trips to the nutritional center and the bilingual school. All good things.

Also, here are the pictures I promised

1. My house in Yarumela
2. My niece, Karen and I
3. The river in Yarumela
4. The Melones at Swearing In
5. Matt and myself rockstar style pre Swearing In
6. Anna, Victor, myself and Sarah at Swearing In























.

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

5.7.08 Official PCV

First of all, I want to start this entry by saying

¡Feliz Cumpleaños Mama!

Its my Mom’s 37th birthday today so everyone should wish her a good one! Hehe.

Now that my daughterly obligations have been fulfilled…my 2nd order of business is to announce that I am now an official Peace Corps Volunteer! See look…


That is me at the swearing in ceremony, posing with the US flag and the Honduran flag in the background. Pretty cool eh? So last Friday we all got gussied up and went to the US Embassy in Tegus for the ceremony. All the staff was there as we promised to protect the US Constitution against enemies and to fulfill our duties and whatnot. It was a really amazing experience, it made me realize what an important task and service it is that we are all taking on. I mean, before we were just trainees, but 44 of us made it through and now we are volunteers. I am so proud of all of us! We had some delicious tacos for lunch and the next thing I knew, it was time to bid farewell to our wonderful staff. I kept it together as I gave bunches of abrazos and besitos to the amazing team that I have befriended and learned so much from over the past 11 weeks. Then I had to say goodbye to Victor, our logistician, and I had tears running down my face. However PC Honduras finds and selects their staff, I commend them. I was continually blown away at how supportive, caring, and helpful every single staff member is. The beautiful thing is that I still have 2 years in this country to see all these people that I now call my friends as well as my colleagues.

After the ceremony we went to the Ambassador’s house and swam which was fantastic. Then we all spent one last night together before having to head our separate ways. Naturally this caused me to cry again…I am such a wimp.

Which leads me to now…sitting on my bed in El Negrito typing this blog. Emelina (my sitemate, who is wat-san) and I just got back from a sanitation conference in Santa Barbara which was definitely a learning experience. I am helping nurse Reina vaccinate tomorrow (which I love doing) and I am getting an official tour of the town, including the schools, on Friday from Mario (who works at WorldVision.) We went and met the director of the all girls school on Monday and he is totally excited and ready for us to come in and work with the students. Things just keep getting better…

More pictures to come when I have the patience!!