Funny Video About Peace Corps

So it has been a long time since I wrote anything here and a lot has happened.  Hopefully little by little I can update.

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Soccer in Honduras

One of the funniest comments I have received while I’ve been here was:

‘If you are not the center on the Honduran National Basketball Team you are wasting the opportunity of a lifetime.’

Here is a picture of my soccer team.  Can you guess which one I am?

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New Years in Lepaterique

After getting back to Honduras on the 29th, I wasn’t really up for any big New Year’s travel.  I started in on a couple rum and cokes and was planning to be asleep by 10.  But then my host family came to see what I was up to and invited me over to their house to celebrate.

We did a little toast a midnight, ate 12 grapes (this symbolizes good luck for the 12 months) and may have even done a little dancing.  But mostly, I hung out with the kids and helped them light off sparklers and fireworks.  My 12 year old fear of fireworks were replaced by my 30 year old fear of fireworks.  Remarkably, they are very similar – the goals is still to do something stupid and not get your hand blown off.   Then I got creative taking pictures of the little pyromaniacs.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

New Years in Lepaterique, posted with vodpod

 

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Long time . . .

Wow, without realizing it 2 months went by without a post.  Everything has been going well, I guess getting more into the ‘real’ work of Peace Corps.  Of course, what this is is not always clear.

I’m going to try to post a few . . . ahhh . . . posts this week.  Then lucky me I am headed to France for Christmas with my family.

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Update from Week 1

So I am here in Honduras.  I hoped to have my blog ready by the time I left – of course it wasn’t.  So here is a quick update of recent events.

• I left Tuesday 2.23.10 at 6 am for Miami.  We had a day of orientation there and then left for Honduras Wednesday 2.24.10.
• Upon arriving at the Tegucigalpa airport (landing wasn’t as bad as in the youtube videos) they served us Dominos pizza.  Then we drove up into the suburbs where we will have our first part of the training.  Later that afternoon I met my family and went back to their house.
• My host family consists of my 37 year old father Javier, mother Patricia, 6 year old sister Alejandra and 6 month old brother Alejandrito.  Liz – my host father is a baker!  He is also a part time welder, accountant and has taken psychology classes.  Interesting guy.  My mother is a bilingual secretary, although she is shy so she doesn’t practice her English with me.  Overall a very nice family – I like them a lot.  Since Alejandra is young I have been watching a lot of Pixar movies.
• Comfort situation: electricity most of the time.  Hot water never.  Basically the way it works is that the faucet water is not for drinking – even for them.  They buy large tanks (like the 5 gallon Poland Spring ones) for drinking.  Tap water is for showering, washing dishes, etc.  But there is a drought now in Honduras, so there is only running tap water 2x per week.  Instead, when there is water, we fill up large containers to store it.  Unfortunately, due to the drought, showering more than 1x per day is frowned upon.  So the practice is to shower in the mornings.  Unfortunately this is when it is coldest out and the water has also cooled overnight.  This will take some getting used to for me.
• Daily life: Wake up at 6.  Shower. Breakfast. Leave at 7 to walk up the hill to the training center.  Training 7:30-4:30.  Usually a mix of language training, security training, medical training etc.  At 4:30 walk home.  Maybe stop along the way for a roadside snack.  Dinner ar0und 6:30.  Watch a movie from 7-9.  Go to my room and read or clean up and then I am asleep around 10.  Its super draining speaking Spanish all day long – I am starting to nod off around 8!
• Food: ok so far.  Not very exciting.
• Sickness: yes – already.  But I survived and they are pretty good about taking care of you.
• People: Awesome. Amazing.  I like many of the other PC Trainees (we are considered trainees until we make it through training and are sworn in – then we become official volunteers) and think I will be fine in the friends department.  They are all pretty cool people – good sense of humor and flexible as you have to be here.
• Classes: I had a Spanish interview today (Friday 2/26) to establish my level and decide what class I will be in going forward.  I find out how I did Monday, but feel pretty good about how I am vs others around me.  I think of the non-native speakers I am in the top few.
• Medical: got the H1N1 shot, Hep A, rabies, received my mosquito net, and took my first dose of malaria pills.  So far so good.
• Cell phones: I hear soon – will let everyone know the number once I have it

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First Post

So I got here to Honduras 2.24.10 as part of a 2 year 3 month Peace Corps assignment.  Hoping to keep you updated through this blog . . . I´ll have some pictures and fun stories soon.  I´m still getting the format right so it may change over time . . . more soon.

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